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Services of "THE MARTYR PRESIDENT." 



THE LIFE, AND MARTYRDOM 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 




SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



With a full history of his Life ; Assassination ; Death, and Funeral. 
His career as a Lawyer and Politician; his services in Congress: 
with his Speeches^ Proclamations, Acts, and services as President of the 
United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, from 
the time of his first Inauguration as President of the United States, 
until the night of his Assassination. 



J) I) il a b c I p I) i a : 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 306 CHESTNUT STREET. 



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^L-^'^-C 



^ THE LIFE, AND MARTYRDOM 



W. or 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



SIXTEENTH 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATEi 

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMY AND MYY 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 



"With a full history of his Life ; Assassination ; Death, and 
Funeral. His career as a Lawyer and Politician ; his services 
in Congress ; with a full account of his Speeches, Proclama- 
tions, Acts, and services as President of the United States, and 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, from the time 
of his first Inauguration as President of the United States, 
until the night of his Assassination. 



f^crrtncc 



PHILADELPHIA: 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 
306 CHESTNUT ^STREET. 



£745^1 

UNeOLNUNA 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1864, by 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the 

Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



7 9 



CONTENTS. 



» > » I 



Birth of President Abraham Lincoln, and hia ancestors.... 21 

His grandfather killed by the Indians and scalped — De- 
scription of his parents 22 

" Abe" goes to school — The Lincoln Family remove to In- 
diana 23 

Death of Mrs. Lincoln — " Abe" learns to write — His father 
marries again — " Abe" finishes his education 26 

He becomes a hired hand on a flatboat, and goes to New 
Orleans 27 

The family remove to Illinois — " Abe" seeks his fortune 
among strangers '. 28 

He takes another trip to New Orleans — Becomes a miller 
and salesman — His services in the Black Hawk war.... 29 

Is nominated for the Legislature and is defeated — Becomes 
a merchant and surveyor — Is elected to the Legislature 
— Studies law 30 

A thrilling incident in his legal career 31 

A protest against slavery — Is a candidate for Presidential 
Elector — Mr. Lincoln is elected to Congress — His votes 

and speeches during his Congressional term 32 

Becomes a delegate to the National Convention of 1848 — 
He is nominated for United States Senator, but with- 
draws 40 

He is again nominated for the Senate — His speeches in tho 
celebrated Lincoln-Douglas campaign — His tribute to the 

Declaration of Independence 41 

Pen-Portraits of Abraham Lincoln 43 

Mr. Lincoln is defeated by Mr. Douglas — Is then named 
for the Presidency — pjvidence of his skill as a Rail- 
splitter 47 

His great speech at the Cooper Institute, New York 48 

Is nominated for President of the United States by tho 
Bepoblican Convention 64 

flT) 



37 



' Tfc II 'iii1lt?itrf 



18 CONTENTS. 

PASfl 

He is notilied of his nomination by a Committee appointed 
by the Convention 65 

Speech of the President of the Convention — Reply of Mr. 
Lincoln — Correspondence between the Convention and 
Mr. Lincoln 66 

Is elected President of the United States 67 

He leaves Springfield for Washington — Ovations on the 
route 68 

His arrival at Toledo and Indianapolis — His speeches at 
each place 69 

He arrives at Cincinnati, and addresses the citizens from 
the Burnet House '^^ 

His arrival at Columbus, with his speech 71 

His arrival at Steubenville, and his address to the people — 
Arrives in Pittsburg, and makes a speech to the citi- 
zens "^2 

Proceeds to Cleveland, and from thence to Buffalo, with his 
speeches at each place '74 

Goes next to Albany — His arrival there, and speeches at 
the Capitol and to the members of the Legislature 76 

Proceeds to New York, and on his way makes a speech at 
Poughkeepsie — Arrival in New York, with his speech, 
on being welcomed by the Mayor of the city to that 
place "78 

Goes next to Trenton — His speeches to the Senate and 
to the Chambers of the Assembly of the State of New 
Jersey 79 

Proceeds to Philadelphia — Is welcomed by the Mayor of 
that city — Mr. Lincoln's speech in reply .^ 81 

He visits " Old Independence Hall" — His speech there 82 

He raises the National Flag of the country to the top of the 
flag-staff on " Old Independence Hall," on Washington's 
Birth-day 83 

He leaves for Harrisburg — His arrival there — Is welcomed 
by both Houses of the Legislature, and his speech on 
that occasion 84 

A plot is made to assassinate him — How it was thwarted.... 85 

Returns to Philadelphia in a special train, and proceeds to 
Washington in disguise — Ilis arrival there — Is welcomed 
*o Washington by the authorities — His speech in reply 86 

Addresses the Republican Association 87 

He is inaugurated President of the United States — Inaugu- 
ral Address of Abraham Lincoln 88 

President Lincoln's interview with the Virginia Commia- 
sioners, with his Address to them on that occasion 95 



CONTKNTi?. 1$ 

rAsa 

The first Proclamation for troops — Congress summoned to 

assemble on the Fourth of July 97 

A blockade of Southern ports ordered 98 

The President's communication with the Maryland au- 
thorities 99 

Blockading of Virginia and North Carolina 101 

A call for additional troops 102 

Has an interview with the Maryland Legislature 103 

A special order for Florida — President Lincoln's first Mes- 
sage to Congress 104 

A day of Fasting and Prayer appointed 117 

Commercial intercourse with the Rebellious States pro- 
hibited 118 

He modifies an order of General Fremont's — His second 

Message to Congress 119 

The President's Message recommending Gradual Emancipa- 
tion "; 120 

He assumes active command of the Army and Navy of the 

United States 122 

He orders Thanksgiving for signal victories — Slavery abol- 

iehed in the District of Columbia .• 123 

Re-opening of some of the Southern Ports — Repudiates an 

cnuincipation order of Major-General Hunter 124 

The President's conference with the Loyal Governors — His 
interview with the Border Congressmen — He reads to 

them a powerful Appeal 125 

Instructions to Military and Naval Commanders 128 

A draft for Three Huiulred Thousand Men ordered — The 

President speaks at a war meeting in Washington 129 

The Emancipation Proclamation of vSeptember 22d, 1862... 131 
The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1st, 1863.... 133 

Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus 135 

He issues an Order for the observance of the Sabbath.... 136 
His Annual Message of December, 1862 — Important recom- 
mendations to Congress 137 

Receives a Complimentary Address from Manchester, Eng- 
land 138 

The President visits the Army of the Potomac — Reviews 

the troops, etc 140 

The Enrolment Act and the rights of Aliens 142 

A National Thanksgiving ordered , 143 

Letter from the President on the Emancipation Proclamik- 
Mon to the Union men of Illinois 146 



'20 CONTENTS. 

TAon 
Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus in certain cases 148 

A Proclamation for a National Thanksgiving 149 

Three Hundred Thousand more men called for 151 

The President's Dedicatory Address at the Consecration of 

the National Cemetery at Gettysburg 152 

He issues another 'I'hanksgiving Proclamation — His Annual 
Message of December, 1863 — Full pardon offered to the 

Rebels 153 

Issues a Proclamation for Seven Hundred Thousand more 

men 15S 

Explanatory Proclamation of one issued December eighth, 

1863 157 

An Impartial Review of the President's Policy 158 

Address of President Lincoln at a fair held at the Patent 

Office at Washington, on March 18th, 1864 174 

His Address to the Committee of the Workingman's Demo- 
cratic Republican Association of New York, on March 

21st, 1864 175 

He is the choice of the Legislatures of Fifteen States, and 

of the American People for another term 177 

Resolutions of the Union League of Philadelphia 179 

General Grant made a Lieutenant-General 181 

A vigorous Prosecution of the War 181 

Mr. Lincoln Re-nominated for the Presidency 182 

President Lincoln visits Philadelphia 185 

Washington Threatened 186 

" To whom it may Concern" 186 

The Fall of Atlanta 187 

Mr. Lincoln is Re-elected 187 

Mr. Lincoln makes a Speech upon his Election 188 

Last Annual Message of Mr. Lincoln 188 

More Troops wanted 189 

Mr. Lincoln has an Interview with Rebel Commissioners.. 189 

President Lincoln goes to " the Front" 191 

General Lee Surrenders 192 

The President returns to Washington 192 

Mr. Lincoln's Last Speech 193 

President Lincoln Assassinated 196 

What became of Booth 198 

The Fourteenth of April, 1865 199 

The effect of Mr. Lincoln's Death 201 

A Snmmary 202 



LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 



OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTORS. 
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the 
United States, and the skilful ruler under whose wise ad- 
ministration the country in its hour of peril has been en- 
abled to combat successfully with the traitors who have 
attempted its destruction, was born on the twelfth of 
February, 1809, in that part of Hardin county, Kentucky, 
which is now known as Larue. His father, Thomas Lin- 
coln, and his grandfather, Abraham, were born in Rock- 
ingham county, Virginia, a section of the " Old Dominion" 
to which their ancestors had migrated from Berks county, 
Pennsylvania. In the year 1780, the grandfather removed 
his family to Kentucky, where, taking possession of a 
Email tract of land in the wilderness, he erected a rude 
cabin, and proceeded to make his new home comfortablo 
and productive. His daily labors were attended in their 
prosecution with great personal danger. There was no 
other resident within two or three miles, and the country 
was infested with Indians, who allowed no opportunity to 
pass to slaughter the white settlers. His gun was carried 

21 



22 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

as regularly to his work as was his axe or any other im- 
plement necessary to the successful clearing of the land, 
and at night when he retired to the bosom of his little 
flock, the faithful weapon was placed in a convenient cor- 
ner, where it could be quickly grasped in the event of an 
attack from the wily enoray. 

Individuals and whole families living in the vicinity 
were murdered by the Indians, but Abraham Lincoln for 
four years escaped their bloodthirsty characteristics ; but 
at the end of that period, while clearing a piece of land 
about four miles from home, he was suddenly attacked, 
and killed, and his scalped remains were found the next 
morning. The loss was a severe one to the widow, who 
now found herself alone in the wilderness with her three 
sons and two daughters, and with but little money with 
which to provide even the necessities of life for the young 
members of her household. Poverty made it necessary 
that the family should separate ; and all the children but 
Thomas bade adieu to their remaining parent, and left the 
county, the second son removing to Indiana, and the others 
to other sections of Kentucky. 

^ DESCRIPTION OP HIS PARENTS. 

Thomas also left home before he was twelve years old, 
but subsequently returned to Kentucky, and in the year 
1806, married Miss Nancy Hanks, who was also a native 
of Virginia ; so that it will be observed nearly all of the 
immediate ancestors of the President were born upon 
Southern soil. Thomas Lincoln and his wife were a plain, 
unassuming couple, conscientious members of the Baptist 
Church, and almost entirely uneducated. Mrs. Lincoln 
could read, but not write, while her husband could do 
neither, save so far as to scribble his own name in a style 
of caligraphy which a few of his more intimate friends 
could decipher. He, however, appreciated the adyan- 



LIFE AND SERVICFS OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 23 

tages of education, and honored and respected the superior 
learning of others. Ilis kindness of heart was proverbial, 
and he was always industrious and persevering. His 
wife, although uneducated, was blessed with much natural 
talent, excellent judgment, and good sense, and these 
qualifications, with her great piety, made her a suitable 
partner for a man of Thomas Lincoln's attributes, and a 
mother whose precepts and teachings could not fail to be 
of vast benefit in the formation of her children's characters. 
This estimable couple had three children — a daughter, a 
son who had died in infancy, and Abraham. The sister 
attained the years of womanhood, and married, but subse- 
quently died without issue. 

ABE" GOES TO SCHOOL. 

When Abraham, or "Abe," as he was already called at 
home and by his companions, was seven years of age, his 
name was entered for the first time on the roll of an edu- 
cational institution — an academy which had but little pre- 
tension in outward appearance, and the presiding genius 
of which had neither ambition nor ability to impart greater 
instruction than that which would enable his pupils to 
read and write. His term of schooling was, however, to 
be of short duration. 

THE LINCOLN FAMILY REMOVE TO INDIANA. 
Mr. Lincoln, although a Southerner by birth and resi- 
dence, had become early imbued with a disgust for slavery. 
He witnessed the evils of the "peculiar institution," and 
longed to be free from the disagreeable effects of a condi- 
tion of society which made a poor white man even more 
degraded than the unfortunate negro, whose energies and 
labors were controlled by an unprincipled and lazy master. 
With these sentiments he naturally desired to change his 
place of residence, and early in October, 1816, finding a 



24 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

purchaser for his farm, he made arrangements for the 
transfer of the property and for his removal. The price 
paid by tlie purchaser was ten barrels of whiskey, of forty 
gallons each, valued at two hundred and eighty dollars, 
and twenty dollars in money. Mr. Lincoln was a .tem- 
perate man, and acceded to the terms, not because he 
desired the liquor, but because such transactions in real 
estate were common, and recognized as perfectly proper. 

The homestead was within a mile or two of the Rolling 
Fork river, and as soon as the sale was effected, Mr. Lin- 
coln, with such slight assistance as little Abe could give 
him, hewed out a flat-boat, and launching it, filled it with 
his household articles and tools and the barrels of whiskey, 
and bidding adieu to his son who stood upon the bank, 
pushed off, and was soon floating down the stream on his 
way to Indiana, to select a new home. His journey down 
the Rolling Fork and into the Ohio river was successfully 
accomplished, but soon afterwards his boat was unfortu- 
nately upset, and its cargo thrown into the water. Some 
men standing on the bank witnessed the accident and 
saved the boat and its owner, but all the contents of the 
craft were lost except a few carpenter's tools, axes, three 
barrels of whiskey and some other articles. He again 
started, and proceeded to a well-known ferry on the river, 
from whence he was guided into the interior by a resident 
of the section of country in which he had landed, and to 
"whom he had given his boat in payment for his services. 
After several days of difficult travelling, much of the time 
employed in cutting a road through the forest wide enough 
for a team,. eighteen miles were accomplished, and Spencer 
county, Indiana, was reached. The site for his new home 
having been determined upon, Mr. Lincoln left his goods 
under the care of a person who lived a few miles distant, 
and returning to Kentucky on foot, made preparations to 
remove his family. In a few days the party bade farewell 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 25 

to their old home and slavery, Mrs. Lincoln and her 
daughter riding one horse, Abe another, and the father a 
third. After a seven days^ journey through an uninhab- 
ited country, their resting-place at night being a blanket 
spread upon the ground, they arrived at the spot selected 
for their future residence, and no unnecessary delays were 
permitted to interfere with the immediate and successful 
clearing of a site for a cabin. An axe was placed in 
Abe's hands, and with the additional assistance of a neigh- 
bor, in two or three days Mr. Lincoln had a neat house of 
about eighteen feet square, the logs composing which 
being fastened together in the usual manner by notches, 
and the cracks between them filled with mud. It had only 
one room, but some slabs laid across logs overhead gave 
additional accommodations which were obtained by climb- 
ing a rough ladder in one corner. A bed, table and four 
stools were then made by the two settlers, father and son, 
and the building wa$ ready for occupancy. The loft was 
Abe's bedroom, and there night after night for many 
years, he who now occupies the most exalted position in 
the gift of the American people, and who dwells in the 
" White House" at Washington, surrounded by all the 
comforts that wealth and power can give, slumbered with 
one coarse blanket -for his mattress and another for his 
covering. Although busy during the ensuing winter with 
his axe, he did not neglect his reading and spelling, and 
also practised frequently with a rifle, the first evidence of 
his skill as a marksman being manifested, much to the 
delight of his parents, in the killing of a wild turkey, 
which had approached too near the cabin. The knowledge 
of the use of the rifle was indispensable in the border 
settlements at that time, as the greater portion of the food 
required for the settlers was procured by it, and the family 
which had not among its male members one or more who 
could discharge it with accuracy, was very apt to suffer 
from a scarcitjr of comestibles. 



26 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

DEATH OF MRS. LIWCOLN— "ABE" LEARNS TO 
WRITE. 

A little more than a year after removing to Spencer 
county, Mrs. Lincoln died, an event which brought deso- 
lation to the hearts of her husband and children, but to 
none so much as to Abe. He had been a dutiful son, and 
she one of the most devoted of mothers, and to her in- 
struction may be traced many of those traits and charac- 
teristics for which even now he is remarkable. Soon 
after her death, the bereaved lad had an offer which prom- 
ised to afford him other employment during the long, 
monotonous evenings, than the reading of books, a young 
man who had removed into the neighborhood having 
offered to teach him how to write. The opportunity was 
too fraught with benefit to be rejected, and after a few 
weeks of practice under the eye of his. instructor, and also 
out of doors with a piece of chalk or charred stick, he was 
able to write bis name, and in less than twelve months 
could and did write a letter. 

HIS FATHER MARRIES AGAIN-ABE FINISHES 
HIS EDUCATION". 

During the next year Mr. Lincoln married Mrs. Sally 
Johnston, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a widow-lady with 
three children, and who was admirably adapted to supply 
the vacancy which existed in the Lincoln family; and a 
superior woman, between whom and Abe a most devoted 
attachment sprung up, which ever afterwards continued. 
About the same time a person named Crawford moved into 
the neighborhood, and understanding how to read and 
write and the rudiments of arithmetic, was induced to 
open a school, to which Abe was sent, and in which he 
greatly improved his knowledge of the first two branches, 
and soon mastered the second. His school-garb comprised 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 

a suit of dressed buckskin and a cap made from a raccoon 
skin. His memorj was retentive, and as he took an un- 
\\sual pride in his studies, his close application made him 
a favorite scholar with his teacher, while his superior 
knowledge, limited though it was, caused him to be used 
by the more ignorant settlers as their scribe whenever they 
had letters to be written. A brief period at this school, 
and to use a fashionable phrase, his education was finished. 
Six months of instruction within the walls of an insigni- 
ficant school-house is all the education that Abraham Lin- 
coln has received during a long lifetime, a greater portion 
of which has been spent in public positions, where ability 
and talent were indispensable requisites. 

BECOMES A HIRED HAND OIT A FLATBOAT. 

For four or five years after leaving school, or until he 
was eighteen, he constantly labored in the woods with his 
axe, cutting down trees and splitting rails, and during 
the evenings, read such works as he could borrow from 
the other settlers. A year later, he was hired by a man 
living near by, at ten dollars a month, to go to New 
Orleans on a flatboat loaded with- stores, which were 
destined for sale at the plantations on the Mississippi 
river, near the Crescent City, and with but one companion 
started on his rather dangerous jouraey. At night they 
tied up alongside of the bank, and rested upon the hard 
deck with a blanket for a covering, and during the hours 
of light, whether their lonely trip was cheered by a bright 
sun or made disagreeable in the extreme by violent storms, 
their craft floated down the stream, its helmsmen never for a 
moment losing their spirits, or regretting their acceptance 
of the positions they occupied. Nothing occurred to mar 
the success of the trip, nor the excitement naturally inci- 
dent to a flatboat expedition of some eighteen hundred 
miles, save a midnight attack br a party of negroes, who, 



28 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

after a severe conflict, were whipped by Abe and his 
comrade and compelled to flee, and after selling their 
goods at a Landsome profit, the young merchants returned 
to Indiana. 

THE FAMILY REMOVE TO ILLIITOIS— ABE 
SEEKS HIS FORTUNE AMONG STRANGERS. 

In March, 1830, Mr. Thomas Lincoln removed his 
family to Illinois, their household articles being transported 
thither in large wagons drawn by oxen, Abe himself 
driving one of the teams. Upon the journey, and while 
crossing the bottom lands of the Kaskaskia river, the 
males of the family were compelled to wade through 
water up to their waists. In two weeks they reached 
Decatur, Macon county, Illinois, near the centre of that 
State, and in another day were at the tract of land 
(ten acres) on the north side of the Sangamon river, and 
about ten miles west of Decatur. A log cabin was imme- 
diately erected, and Abe proceeded to split the rails for 
the fence with which the lot was to be enclosed. As a 
rail-splitter, as a tiller of the soil, or as a huntsman, to 
whose accuracy of aim the family depended in a great 
measure for their daily food, young Abraham Lincoln 
was active, earnest and laborious, and when in the follow- 
Jng spring he signified his intention to leave his home to 
seek his fortune among strangers, the tidings were re- 
ceived by his parents and friends with the most profound 
sorrow. 

Confident that a more extended field of observation and 
action would be more suitable to his tastes and disposition, 
he packed up what little clothing he possessed, and went 
westward into Menard county. He worked on a farm 
in the vicinity of Petersburg, during the ensuing summer 
and winter, at the same time improving himself, in read- 
ing, writing, grammar, and arithmetic. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 29 



HE TAKES ANOTHER TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS- 
BECOMES MILLER AND SALESMAN. 

Early in the following spring he was hired by a man 
•named Offutt, to assist in taking a flatboat to New 
Orleans ; and, as it was found impossible to purchase a 
suitable boat, Abe lent a willing and industrious hand in 
building one at Sangamon, from whence, when completed, 
it was floated into the Mississippi river. The trip was 
made, and his employer was so much gratified with the 
industry and tact of his hired hand, that he engaged him 
to take charge of his mill and store in the village of New 
Salem. In this position, " Honest Abe," as he was now 
called, won the respect and confidence of all with whom 
he had business dealings, while socially, he was much 
beloved by the residents — young and old — of the place. 
He was affable, generous, ever ready to assist the needy 
or to sympathize with the distressed, and never was 
known to be guilty of a dishonorable act. 

HIS SERVICES IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR. 

« 

Early in the following year the Black Hawk War broke 

out, and the Governor of Illinois calling for troops, Abe 
determined to offer his services ; and a recruiting station 
being opened in New Salem, he placed his name the first 
on the roll ; and by his influence inducing many of his 
friends and companions to do likewise, a company was 
soon organized, and Abe was unanimously elected captain. 
The company marched to Beardstovvn, and from there to 
the seat of war ; but during their term of enlistment — 
thirty days — were not called into active service. A new- 
levy was then called for, and he re-enlisted .as a private, 
and at the end of thirty days again re-enlisted, and re- 
mained with his regiment until the war ended. 



30 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

IS NOMINATED FOR THE LEGISLATURE AND 
IS DEFEATED. 

Soon after his return from this campaign, in the pro- 
gress of which he proved himself an efficient and zealous 
soldier, although his regiment was not brought in conflict 
with the enemy, or as he subsequently expressed it, he 
" did not see any live fighting Indians, but had a good 
many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes," he was 
waited upon by several of the influential citizens of New 
Salem, who asked his consent to nominate him for the 
legislature. He had only been a resident of the county for 
nine months, but as a thorough-going "Henry Clay man" 
vas needed, he was deemed the most suitable person to run, 
particularly as it was believed that his popularity would 
ensure success in a county which had, the year before, 
given General Jackson a large majority for President. 
There were eight aspirants for the legislative position; 
but, although Abraham received two hundred and seventy- 
seven votes out of two hundred and eighty-four, cast in 
New Salem, he was not elected, the successful candidate 
leading him a few votes. 

BECOMES A MERCHANT AND SURVEYOR. 

Soon after his political defeat he engaged in the mer- 
cantile business, but in a few months sold out, and under 
the tuition of John Calhoun (in later years President of 
the Lecompton Constitutional Convention) became pro- 
ficient in surveying, an occupation which for more than a 
year he found very remunerative for a novice. He was 
also for a time Postmaster of New Salem. 

IS ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE— STUDIES 
LAW 

In August, 1834, he was again nominated for the Legis- 
lature, and was elected by a large majority ; and in 1836, 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81 

1838, and 1840, was re-elected. While attending the pro- 
ceedings of the first session, he determined to become a law- 
yer, and being placed in possession of the necessary books 
through the kindness of the Hon. John T. Stuart, applied 
himself to study, and in 1836 was admitted to practice at 
the bar. In April, 1837, he removed to Springfield, and 
became a partner of Mr. Stuart. 

A THRILLING INCIDENT IN HIS LEGAL 
CAREER. 

One instance which occurred during his early legal 
practice is worthy of extended publication. At a camp 
meeting held in Menard county, a fight took place which 
ended in the murder of one of the participants in the 
quarrel. A young man named Armstrong, a son of the 
aged couple for whom many years before Abraham Lin- 
coln had worked, was charged with the deed, and being 
arrested and examined, a true bill was found against him, 
and he was lodged in jail to await his trial. As soon as 
Mr. Lincoln received intelligence of the affair, he addressed 
a kind letter to Mrs. Armstrong, stating his anxiety that 
her son should have a fair trial, and offering in return for 
her kindness to him while in adverse circ-iimstances some 
years before, his services gratuitously. Investigation con- 
vinced theVolunteer attorney that the young man was the 
victim of a conspiracy, and he determined to postpone the 
case until the excitement had subsided. The day of trial 
however finally arrived, and the accuser testified positively 
that he saw the accused plunge the knife into the heart of 
tlie murdered man. lie remembered all the circumstances 
perfectly; the murder was committed about half-past nine 
o'clock at night, and the moon was shining brightly. 
Mr. Lincoln reviewed all the testimony carefully, and 
then proved conclusively that the moon which the accuser 
had sworn was shining brightly, did not rise until an hour 



32 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

or more after the murder was committed. Other dis- 
crepancies were exposed, and in thirty minutes after the 
jury retired they returned with a verdict of " Not Guilty " 

A PROTEST AGAINST SLAVERY. 

On the third of March, 1831, a protest was presented 
to the House of Representatives of Illinois and signed by 
"Daniel Stone and Abraham Lincoln, Representatives 
from Sangamon county," which is the first record that we 
have of the sentiments of the subject of our sketch on the 
slavery question. It was in opposition to a series of reso- 
lutions which had been adopted, taking an extreme South- 
ern view of slavery, for which Mr. Lincoln refused to vote, 
and subsequently handed in the protest. 

IS A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENTIAL 
ELECTOR. 

In every campaign from 1836 to 1852, he was a Whig 
candidate for Presidential Elector, and in 1844, he stumped 
the entire State of Illinois for Henry Clay ; and then 
crossing the line into Indiana, spoke daily to immense 
gatherings, until the day of election. His style of speak- 
ing was pleasing to the masses of the people, and bis 
earnest appeals were not only well received, but were 
productive of much benefit to his favorite candidate. 
Accustomed from early childhood to the habits and pecu- 
liarities of all kinds and conditions of men — the refined 
and the vulgar, the intelligent and the illiterate, the rich 
and the poor — he knew exactly what particular style of 
language best suited his hearers, and the result was that 
he was always listened to with a degree of attention and 
interest which few political speakers receive. 

MR. LINCOLN ELECTED TO CONGRESS — HIS 
VOTES AND SPEECHES DURING HIS CON- 
GRESSIONAL TERM. 

In r'84R, Mr. liiur-oln was elpct^d to Congre.ss from the 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 83 

Central District of Illinois, by a majority of over fifteen 
hundred votes, tbc largest ever given in that District to 
any candidate opposed to the Democratic party. Illinois 
elected seven Representatives that year ; and all were 
Democrats but Mr. Lincoln. lie took his seat on the 
first Monday of December, 1847, and during the exciting 
session that followed, cast his vote pro or con on every 
important question, and. on more than one occasion dis- 
played his eloquence and superior argumentative ability. 
One of his first votes was given on the twentieth of De- 
cember in favor of the following resolution : 

"Resolved, That if. in the jncig'ment of Corifrrosa, it be neces- 
Kary to improve the navigation of a river to expedite and render 
secure the movements of oiV army, and save from delay and loss 
our arms and munitions of war, that Congress has the power to 
improve such river. 

"liesolved, That if it be necessary for the preservation of the 
lives of our seamen, repairs, safety, or maintenance of our vos- 
sels-of-war, to improve a harbor or inlet, either on our Atlantic 
or Lake coast, Congress has the power to make such improve- 
ment." 

On the twenty-second of the same month, he voted in 
favor of a similar resolution, and on the same day offered 
the following series of resolutions, which he introduced 
with one of his characteristic speeches, humorous at one 
moment and logical at the next. Although, like the large 
majority of the Whig party opposed to the declaration of 
war with Mexico by the President, he never failed to vote 
for any resolution or bill which had for its object the send- 
ing of supplies to our troops who had been ordered to the 
seat of war. The resolutions read as follows : 

"Whereas, The President of the United States, in his mes- 
sage of May 11th, 1846. has declared ' that the Mexican Govern- 
ment not only refused to receive him (the envoy of the United 
States) or listen to his propositions, l>nt, after a long-continued 
series of menaces, have at last invaded our territory and shed 
the blood of our fellow -citizens on our own soil,' 

"And again, in his message of December 8th, 1H46, that ' wc 



84 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

had ample cause of war against Mexico long before the break- 
ing out of hostilities, but even then we forbore to take redress 
into our own hands until Mexico herself became the aggressor 
by invading our soil in hostile array, and shedding the blood of 
our citizens.' 

"And yet again, in the message of December 7th, 1847, that 
'the Mexican Government refused even to hear the terms of 
adjustment which he (our minister of peace) was authorized to 
propose; and, finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts, in- 
volved the two countries in war by invading the territory of the 
State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the blood 
of our citizens on our own soil.' 

^' And luhereas, This House is desirous to. obtain a full knowl- 
edge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particu- 
lar spot on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was or 
was not at that time our own soil. Therefore, 

''Resolved, by the House of Representatives, That the Presi- 
dent of the United States be respectfully requested to inform 
this House, 

" \st. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens 
was shed, as in his messages declared, was or was not within the 
Territory of Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the 
Mexican revolution. 

''2nd. Whether tliat spot is or is not within the territory 
which was wrested from Spain by the revolutionary Govern- 
ment of Mexico. 

" 3rcZ. Whether that spot is or is not within a settlement of 
people, which settlement has existed ever since long before the 
'J'exas revolution, and until its inhabitants fled before the ap- 
proach of the United States Army. 

"4</i. Whether that settlement is or is not isolated from any 
and all other settlements by the Gulf and the Rio Grande on 
the south and west, and by wide uninhabited regions on the north 
and east. 

"bth. Whether the people of that settlement, or a majority 
of them, or any of them, have ever submitted themselves to the 
Government or laws of Texas or of the United States, by con- 
sent or by compulsion, either by accepting office, or voting at 
elections, or paying tax or serving on juries, or having process 
served upon them, or in any other way. 

"6^/i. Whether the people of that settlement did or did not 
floe from the apjM-oach of the United States Army, leaving un- 
protected their homes and their growing crops, before the blood 
was shed, as in the message stated ; and whether the first blood, 
so shed, was or was not s^hed within the enclosure of one of the 
people who had thus fled from it. 

" "ith. Whether our citizens, whose blood was shed, as in his 
messages declared, were or were not, at that time, armed oiBcers 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 

and soldiers, sent into that settlement by the military order of 
the President, through the Secretary of AVar. 

" &ih. Whether tlie military force of the United States was or 
■was not so sent into that settU-ment after General Taylor had 
more than once intimated to the War department that, in his 
opinion, no such movement was necessary to the defence or pro- 
tection of Texas." 

On several occasions during the session, he voted for 
the reception of petitions and memorials in favor of the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, against 
the slave-trade, and advocating the prohibition of slavery 
in the territory that might be acquired from Mexico. 

On the seventeenth of February, 1848, Mi\ Lincoln 
voted for a Loan bill reported by the Committee of Ways 
and Means, authorizing the raising of sixteen millions of 
dollars to enable the Government to provide for its debts, 
principally incurred in Mexico. 

On the eleventh of May, in moving to reconsider a vote 
by which a bill having reference to the public lauds had 
passed, he made the following remarks : 

" He stated to the House that he had made this motion for 
the purpose of obtaininj^ an opportunity to say a few words 
in relation to a point raised iu the course of the debate on 
this bill, which he would now proceed to make, if in order. 
The point in the case to which he referred, arose on the amend- 
ment that was submitted by tiie g^entlcman from Vx?rmont (Mr. 
Collamer), in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, 
and which was afterwards renewed in the House, in relation to 
the question whether the reserved sections, which, by some bills 
heretofore passed, by which an ap]iropriatioa of land had been 
made to Wisconsin, had been enhanced iu value, should be re- 
duced to the minimum price of the public lands. The question 
of the reduction in value of those sections was, to him. at this 
time, a matter very nearly of indifference. He was inclined to 
desire that Wisconsin should be oblitrod by havinjif it reduced. 
But the ofentlemau from Indiana (Air. C. B. Smith), the Chair- 
man of the Committee on the Territorii^'s. associated that ques- 
tion with the general question, which is now, to some extent, 
agitated in Congress, of making appropriations of alternate sec 
lions of land to aid the States iu making internal improvtipi'',DtS' 
and enhancing the prices of the section reserved, and t4r« ,r«^ 



36 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LmCOLN. 

tleraan from Indiana took ground against that policy. He did 
not make any special argument in favor of Wisconsin ; but he 
took ground generally against the policy of giving alternate sec- 
tions of land, and enhancing the price of the reserved sections. 
Now, he (Mr. L.) did not at this time, take the floor for the 
purpose of attempting to make an argument on the general sub- 
ject. He rose simply to protest against the doctrine which the 
gentleman from Indiana had avowed in the course of what he 
(Mr. L.) could not bat consider an unsound argument. 

" It might however be true, for any thing he knew, that the 
gentleman from Indiana might convince him that his argument 
was sound ; but he (Mr. L.) feared that gentleman would not be 
able to convince a majority in Congress that it was sound. It 
was true, the question appeared in a different aspect to persons 
in consequence of a difference in the point from which they 
looked at it. It did not look to persons residing east of the 
mountains as it did to those who lived among the public lands. 
But, for his part, he would state that if Congress would make a 
donation of alternate sections of public lands for the purpose 
of internal improvement in his State, and forbid the reserved 
sections being sold at $1.25, he should be glad to see the appro- 
priation made, though he should prefer it if the reserved sec- 
tions were not enhanced in price. He repeated, he should be 
glad to have such appropriations made, even though the reserved 
sections should be enhanced in price. He did not wish to be 
understood as concurring in any intimation that they would re- 
fuse to receive such an appropriation of alternate sections of 
land because a condition enhancing the price of the reserved 
sections should be attached thereto. He believed his position 
would now be understood, if not, be feared he should not be able 
to make himself understood. 

" But before he took his seat he would remark that the Senate, 
during the present session, had passed a bill making appropria- 
tions of land on that principle for the benefit of the State ia 
which he resided-^the State of Illinois. The alternata sections 
■were to be given for the purpose of constructing roads, and the 
reserved sections were to be enhanced in Talue in consequence. 
When the bill came here for the action of this House, it had 
been received, and was now before the Committee on Public 
Lands — he desired much to see it jsassed as it was, if it could 
be put in a more favorable form for the State of Illinois. When 
it should be before thi^ House, if any member from a section of 
the Union in which these lands did not lie, whose interest might 
be less than that which he felt, should propose a reduction of 
the price of the reserved sections to $1.25, he should be much 
obliged ; but he did not think it would be well for those who 
came from the section of the Union in which the lands lay, to 
do so. He wished it, then, to be understood, that he did not 
join in the warfare against the principle which had engaged the 



LIFE AND SERVICES OP ABRAHAM LINCOLU". 3 , 

minds of some members of Congress who were favorable to im- 
provements in the western country. 

" There was a good deal of force, he admitted, ia what fell 
from the Cliairmaii of the Committee on Territories. It might 
be that tliere was no precise justice in raising the price of the 
reserved sections to $2.iJ0 per acre. It might be proper that 
the price should be enhanced to some extent, though not to 
double the usual price ; but he should be glad to have such an 
appropriation witii the reserved sections at ^2.50; he should be 
better pleased to have the price of those sections at something 
less ; and he should be still better pleased to have them without 
any enhancement at all. 

" There was one portion of the argument of the gentlemaa 
from Indiana, the Chairman of the Committee ou Territories 
(Mr. Smith), which he wished to take occasion to say that he 
did not view as unsound. He alluded to the statement that the 
General Government was interested in these internal improve- 
ments being made, inasmuch as they increased the value of the 
lands that were unsold, and they enabled the Government to sell 
lands which could not be sold without them. Thus, then, the 
Government gained by internal improvements, as well as by the 
general good which the people derived from them, and it might 
be, therefore, that the lands should not be sold for more than 
Sl-50, instead of the price being doubled. lie, however, merely 
mentioned this in passing, for he only rose to state, as the prin- 
ciple of giving these lands for the purposes which he had men- 
tioned had been laid hold of and considered favorably, and as 
there were some gentlemen who had constitutional scruples 
about giving money for these purposes, who would not hesitate 
to give land, that he was not willing to have it understood that 
he was one of those who made war against that principle. This 
was all he desired to say, and having accomplished the object 
with which he rose, he withdrew his motion to reconsider." 

On the niucteeiith of the following month he first had 
an opportunity to record his views upon the Tariff ques- 
tion, by voting in favor of a resolution instructing the 
Committee of Ways and Means to inquire into the expe- 
diency of reporting a bill increasing the duties on foreign 
luxuries of all kinds, and on "such foreign manufactures 
as are now coming into ruinous competition with Ameri- 
can labor." He subsequently voted for a resolution in- 
structing the Committee of "Ways and Means to inquire 
into the expediency of reporting a Tariif bill based upoa 
the principles of the Tariff of 1842. 



38 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LmCOLN. 

On the 28th of July, 1848, the celebrated bill estal>. 
lishing Territorial governments for Oregon, California and 
New Mexico, the peculiar feature of which was a provi- 
sion prohibiting the Legislatures of California and New 
Mexico from passing laws in favor of or against slavery, 
and providing that the laws of the Legislatures should be 
subject to the sanction of Congress, was argued, and after 
an exciting debate, laid on the table, Mr. Lincoln voting 
with Mr. Webster, Mr. Corwin, and other illustrious col- 
leagues for this disposition of the bill. 

On the sixteenth of January, 1849. Mr. Lincoln offered 
the following substitute for a resolution which he had 
voted against, not being satisfied with all its provisions : 

" Resolved, That the Committee on the District of Columbia 
oe instructed to report a bill in substance, as follows : 

" Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- 
tatives of the United States in Congress assembled, That no per- 
Bon not now within the District of Columbia, nor now owned by 
any person or persons now resident within it, nor hereafter born 
■within it, shall ever be held in slavery within said District. 
i Sec. 2. That no person now within said District, or now owned 
by any person or persons now resident within the same, or here- 
after born within it, shall ever be held in slavery without the 
limits of said District : Provided, That ofBcers of the Govern- 
ment of the United States, being citizens of the slaveholding 
States, coming into said District on public business, and remain- 
ing only so long as may be reasonably necessary for that object, 
maybe attended into and out of said District, and while there, 
by the necessary servants of themselves and their families, with- 
out their right to hold such servants in service being impaired. 

"Sec. 3. That all children born of slave mothers within said 
District, on or after the 1st day of January, in the year of our 
Lord 1850, shall be free ; but shall be reasonably supported and 
educated by the respective owners of their mothers, or by their 
heirs or representatives, and shall serve reasonable service as 
apprentices to such owners, heirs, or representatives, until they 

respectively arrive at the age of years, when they shall 

be entirely free: And the municipal authorities of Washington 
and Georgetown, within their respective jurisdictional limits, 
are hereby empowered and required to make all suitable and 
necessaryprovision for enforcing obedience to this section, on 
the part of both masters and apprentices. 

" Sec. 4. That all persons now within this District, lawfully 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 

held as slaves, or now owned by any person or persons now resi- 
dent within said District, shall remain such at the will of their 
respective owners, their heirs or legal representatives : Pro- 
vided that snch owner, or his legal representatives, may at any 
time receive from the Treasury of the United States the full 
value of his or her shive, of the class in this section mentioned, 
upon which such slave shall be forthwith and forever free : And 
provided further, That the President of the United States, the 
Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be 
a board for determining the value of such slave-s as their owners 
desire to emancipate under this section, and whose duty it shall 
be to hold a session for the purpose on the first Monday of each 
calendar month, to receive all applications, and, on satisfactory 
evidence in each case that the person presented for valuation 
is a slave, and of the class in the section mentioned, and is 
owned by the applicant, shall value such slave at his or her full 
cash value, and give to the applicant an order on the Treasury 
for the amount, and also to such slave a certificate of freedom. 

"(Sec. 5. That the municipal authorities of Washington and 
Georgetown, within their respective jurisdictional limits, are 
hereby empowered and required to provide active and efiScient 
means to arrest and deliver up to their owners all fugitive slaves 
escaping into said District. 

"Sec. 6. That the elective ofificers within said District of Col- 
nmbia are hereby empowered and required to open polls at all 
the usual places of holding elections, on the first Monday of 
April next, and receive the vote of every free white male citi- 
zen above the age of twenty-one years, having resided within 
said District for the period of one year or more next preceding 
the time of such voting for or against thi# act, to proceed in 
taking said votes in all respects not herein specified, as at elec- 
tions under the municipal laws, and with as little delay as pos- 
sible to transmit correct statements of the votes so cast to the 
President of the United States ; and it shall be the duty of the 
President to count such votes immediately, and if a majority 
of them be found to be for this act, to forthwith issue his pro- 
clamation giving notice of the fact ; and this act shall only be 
in full force and efiect on and after the day of such procla- 
mation. 

" Sec. 7. That involuntary servitude for the punishment of 
crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
in nowise be prohibited by this act. 

"(Sec. 8. That for all purposes of this act, the jurisdictional 
limits of Washington are extended to all parts of the District 
of Columbia not included within the present limits of George- 
town." 

We have given a sufficient record of Mr. Lincoln's ser- 
vices as a Representative in Congress, to show that in his 



40 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LmCOLIf. 

numerous votes and remarks upon the slavery question, 
he was uniformly consistent, and a determined opponent 
to that peculiar institution which, Mr. Corwin truly re- 
marked, was an exotic that blights with its shade the soil 
in which it is planted. He with almost equal determina- 
tion opposed the annexation of Texas, and voted morfl 
than forty different times in favor of the Wilmot Proviso. 

BECOMES A DELEGATE TO THE NATIOTfAli 
CONVENTION OP 1848. 

In the Whig National Convention of 1848, he was an 
active delegate, and earnestly advocated the selection of 
General Zachary Taylor as the nominee for the Presiden- 
cy, and during the canvass which followed, he traversed 
the States of Indiana and Illinois, speaking in behalf of 
his favorite candidate and the choice of his party. 

HE IS NOMINATED FOR UNITED STATES 
SENATOR, BUT WITHDRAWS. 

In 1849 he was a candidate before the Legislature of 
Illinois for United States Senator, but his political oppo- 
nents being in the majority. General Shields was chosen. 
From that time until 1854, he confined himself almost 
exclusively to the practice of his profession, but in that 
year he again entered the political arena, and battled inde- 
fatigably in the celebrated campaign which resulted in 
victory for the first time to the opposition of the Demo- 
cratic party in Illinois, and gave that State a Republican 
Legislature, and sent Mr. Trumbull to the United States 
Senate. During the canvass, Mr. Lincoln was frequently 
brought into controversy upon the stand with Stephen A. 
Douglas, one of the discussions, that was held on the fourth 
of October, 1854, during the progress of the annual State 
Fair, being particularly remarkable as the great discussion 
of the campaign. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 41 

At the election of United States Senator, nine-tenths of 
the majority were Whigs and in lavor of ]Mr. Lincoln, and 
the other tenth were Democrats, but not in favor of voting 
for a. Whig, and for the purpose of securing the success of 
a man whom he knew was opposed to the Nebraska bill, 
and thus preventing the election of a tliird person who had 
little or nothing in common with the Republican party, 
which was then in its conception, he entreated his friends 
to vote for Mr. Trumbull. Mr. Lincoln was subsequently 
offered the nomination for Governor of Illinois, but de- 
clined the honor in favor of Mr. Bissell ; was also pre- 
sented, but ineffectually, at the first Republican National 
Convention for Vice-President ; and at the next Presi- 
dential election headed the Ffemont electoral ticket, and 
labored industriously in support of that candidate. 

AGAIN NOMINATED FOR THE SENATE— HIS 
SPEECHES IN THE CELEBRATED LINCOLN- 
DOUGLAS CAMPAIGN. 

On the second of June, 1858, the Republican State 
Convention met at Springfield, and nominated Mr. Lin- 
coln as their candidate for the United States Senate. At 
the close of their proceedings the honored recipient of their 
suffrage delivered a speech, which was a forcible exposi- 
tion of the views and aims of the party of which he was 
to be the standard-bearer. 

The contest which followed was one of the most ex- 
citing and remarkable ever witnessed in this country. Mr 
Stephen A. Douglas, his opponent, had few superiors as 
a political debater, and while he had made many enemies 
by his course upon the Nebraska bill, his personal popu- 
larity had been greatly increased by his independence, and 
by the opposition manifested to him by the Administra- 
tion. His re-election, however, to the Senate would 
have been equivalent; to an indorsement of his acts and 



42 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

views by his Commonwealth, and at the same time 
would have promoted his prospects for the Presidential 
nomination. The Republicans, therefore, determined 
to defeat him if possible, and to increase the probabilities 
of success in the movement, selected Mr. Lincoln as the 
man who was most certain of securing the election. Illi- 
nois was stumped throughout its length and breadth by 
both candidates and their respective advocates, and the 
people of the entire country watched with interest the 
struggle. From county to county, township to township, 
and village to village, the two leaders travelled, frequently 
in the same car or carriage, and in the presence of 
immense crowds of men, women and children — for the 
wives and daughters of the hardy yeomanry were na- 
turally interested — face to face, these two opposing cham- 
pions argued the important points of their political belief, 
and contended nobly for the mastery. 

During the campaign, Mr. Lincoln paid the following 
tribute to the Declaration of Independence 

"These communities, (the thirteen colonies,) by their repre- 
sentatives in old Independence Hall, said to the world of 
men, ' We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
born equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with in- 
alienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness.' This was their majestic interpretation of the 
economy of the universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and 
noble understanding of the justice of tlie Creator to His crea- 
tures. Yes, gentlemen, to all His creatures, to the whole great 
family of man. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped 
with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to 
be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows. They 
grasped not only the race of men then living, but they reached 
forward and seized upon the furthest posterity. They created 
a' beacon to guide their children and their children's children, 
and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other 
ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of 
prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great 
self-evident truths that when, in the distant future, some man, 
some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none 
but rich men, or none but white men, or none but Anglo-Saxoa 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLX. 43 

white men, were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- 
piness, their posterity niii,'ht look up again to the Declaration 
of Independence, and take courage to renew the battle which ^ 
their fathers began, so that truth, and justice and mercy, and 
all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished 
from the land ; so that no man would hereafter dare to limit 
and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of 
liberty was being built. 

" Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines 
conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take 
away from its grandeur, and mutilate the fair symmetry of its 
proportions ; if you have been inclined to believe that all men 
are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by 
our chart of liberty, let me entreat you to come back — return to 
the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of the Re- 
volution. Think nothing of me, take no thought for the politi- 
cal fate of any man whomsoever, but come back to the truths 
that are in the Declaration of Ind^endence. 

"You may do any thing with me you choose, if you will but 
heed these sacred principles. You may not only defeat me for 
the Senate, but you may take me and put me to death. While 
protending no indifference to earthly honors, T do claim to be 
actuated in this contest by something higher than an anxiety 
for office. I charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant 
thought for any man's success. It is nothing ; I am nothing ; 
Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal 
emblem of humanity — the Declaration of American Independ- 
ence." 



PEN-PORTRAITS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

As we have stated, the exciting struggle was watched 
with intense interest, not only bj the members of the 
respective political parties of which the two orators were 
recognized leaders and champions, but by that portion of 
the different communities of the Union who do not gen- 
erally trouble their minds with political contests. Copious 
extracts from the speeches of both Mr. Lincoln and Mr. 
Douglas were published in the journals of the day, and 
criticisms of the orators and their discussions appeared in 
the leading magazines and newspapers. 

From some of the latter we select the following, for the 
purpose of showing in what estimation the talents and 



44 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

ability of the honorable subject of our sketch were held 
at the time of which we now more particularly speak, and 
to give those readers of this work who have not had the 
opportunity to see Mr. Lincoln, an idea of his personal 
appearance : 

One writer gives the following pen-portrait : 

" Mr. Lincoln stands six feet and four inches high in his 
stockings. His frame is not muscular, but gaunt and wiry; 
his arms are long, but not unreasonably so for a person of 
his height ; his lower h"mbs are not disproportioned to his body. 
In walking, his gait, though firm, is never brisk. He steps 
slowly and deliberately, almost always with his head inclined 
forward, and his hands clasped behind his back. Irt matters of 
dress he is by no means precise. Always clean, he is never 
fashionable ; he is careless, but not slovenly. In manner he is 
remarkably cordial, and, at the same time, simple. His polite- 
ness is always sincere, but never elaborate and oppressive. A 
warm shake of the hand, and a warmer smile of recognition, are 
his methods of greeting his friends. At rest, his features, though 
those of a man of mark, are not such as belong to a handsome 
man ; but when his fine dark gray eyes are lighted up by any 
emotion, and his features begin their play, he would be chosen 
from among a crowd as one who had in him not only the kindly 
sentiments which women love, but the heavier metal of which 
full-grown men and Presidents are made. His hair is black, and 
though thin is wiry. His head sits well on his shoulders, but 
beyond that it defies description. It nearer resembles that of 
Olay than that of AVebster ; but it is unlike either. It is very 
large, and, phrenologically, well proportioned, betokening power 
in all its developments. A slightly Roman nose, a wide-cut 
mouth, and a dark complexion, with the appearance of having 
been weather-beaten, complete the description. 

" In his personal habits, Mr. Lincoln is as simple as a child. 
He loves a good dinner, and eats with the appetite which goes 
with a great brain ; but his food is plain and nutritious. He 
never drinks intoxicating liquors of any sort, not even a glass 
of wine. He is not addicted to tobacco in any of its shapes. 
He never was accused of a licentious act in all his life. He 
never uses profane language. 

"A friend says that once, when in a towering rage, in conse- 
quence of the efforts of certain parties to perpetrate a fraud on 
the State, he was heard to say: ' They sha'n't do it, d— n 'em !' 
but beyond an expression of that kind, his bitterest feelings 
never carry him. He never gambles ; we doubt if he ever in- 
dulges in any games of chance. He is particularly cautious 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 45 

nbout incurring pecuniary obligations for any purpose whatever, 
and in debt, lie is never content until the score is dischars^cd. 
We presume ho owes no man a dollar. IIo never speculates. 
I'hc rage for the sudden acquisition of wealth never took hold 
of him. llis gains from his profession have been moderate, but 
sufficient for his purposes. While others have droamed of gold, 
he has been in pursuit of knowledge. In all his dealings he has 
the reputation of being generous but exact, and, above all, re- 
ligiously honest. He would be a bold man who would say that 
Abraham Lincoln ever wronged any one out of a cent, or ever 
spent a dollar that he had not honestly earned. His struggles 
in early life have made him careful of money; but his generosity 
with his own is proverbial. He is a regular attendant upon re- 
ligious worship, and though not a communicant, is a pew-holder 
and liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Church, in Spring- 
field, to which Mrs. Lincoln belongs. He is a scrupulous teller 
of the truth — too exact in his notions to suit the atmosphere of 
"Washington, as it now is. His enemies may say that ho tells 
Black Republican lies ; but no man ever charged that, in a pro- 
fessional capacity, or as a citizen dealing with his neighbors, he 
would depart from the Scriptural command. At home, he lives 
like a gentleman of modest means and simple tastes. A good- 
sized house of wood, simply but tastefully furnished, .surrounded 
by trees and flowers, is his own, and there he lives, at peace with 
himself, the idol of his family, and for his honesty, ability, and 
patriotism, the admiratiou of his countrymen." 

Another person gives the subjoined sketch of him : 

"In personal appearance, Mr. Lincoln, or, as he is more 
familiarly termeVl among those who know hira best, ' Old Uncle 
Abe,' is long, lean, and wiry. In motion he has a great deal of 
the elasticity and awkwardness which indicates the rough train- 
ing of his early life, and his conversation savors strongly of 
AVestern idioms and pronunciation. His height is six feet four 
inches. His complexion is about that of an octoroon ; his face, 
without being by any means beautiful, is genial-looking, and good 
humor seems to lurk in every corner of its innumerable angles. 
He has dark hair tinged with gray, a good forehead, small eyes, 
a long penetrating nose, with nostrils such as Napoleon alway.s 
liked to find in his best generals, because they indicated a long 
head and clear thoughts ; and a mouth, which, Aside from being 
of magnificent proportions, is probably the most expressive 
feature of his face. 

"As a speaker he is ready, precise, and fluent. His manner 
before a popular assembly is as he pleases to make it, being 
either superlatively ludicrous, or very impressive. He employs 
but little gesticulation, but when he desires to make a point, pro- 
duces a shrug of his shoulders, an elevation of his oyebrow.s, a 



46 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

depression of his mouth, and a general malformation of counte- 
nance so comically awkward that it never fails to 'bring down 
the house.' His enunciation is slow and emphatic, and his voice, 
though sharp and powerful, at times has a frequent tendency to 
dwindle into a shrill and unpleasant sound ; but as before stated, 
the peculiar characteristic of his delivery is the remarkable mo- 
bility of his features, the frequent contortions of which excite a 
merriment his words could not produce." 

A third sajs : 

" In perhaps the severest test that could have been applied 
to any man's temper — his political contest with Senator Doug- 
las in 1858 — Mr. Lincoln not only proved himself an able speaker 
and a good tactician, but demonstrated that it is possible to 
carry on the fiercest political warfare without once descending 
to rude personality and course denunciation. We have it oa 
the authority of a gentleman who followed Abraham Lincoln 
throughout the whole of that campaign, that, in spite of all the 
temptations to an opposite course to which he was continuously 
exposed, no personalities against his opponent, no vituperation 
or coarseness, ever deflled his lips. His kind and genial nature 
lifted him above a resort to any such weapons of political warfare, 
and it was the commonly-expressed regret of fiercer natures that 
he treated his opponent too courteously and urbanely. Vulgar 
personalities and vituperation are the last thing that can be 
truthfully charged against Abraham Lincoln. His heart is too 
genial, his good sense too strong, and his innate self-respect too 
predominant to permit him to indulge in them. His nobility 
of nature — and we may use the term advisedly — has been as 
manifest throughout his whole career as his temperate habits, 
his self-reliance, and his mental and intellectual power." 

And a fourth, a distinguished scholar, after listening to 
a speech delivered at Galesburgh, thus wrote : 

" The men are entirely dissimilar. Mr. Douglas is a thick-set, 
finely-built, courageous man, and has an air of self-confidence 
that does not a little to inspire h's supporters with hope. Mr. 
Lincoln is a tall, lank man, awkward, apparently diffident, and 
when not speaking has neither firmness in his countenance nor 
fire in his eye. 

" Mr. Lincoln has a rich, silvery voice, enunciates with great 
distinctness, and has a fine command of language. He com- 
menced by a review of the points Mr. Douglas had made. In 
this he showed great tact, and his retorts, though gentlemanly, 
were sharp, and reached to the core the subject in dispute. 
While he gave but little time to the work of review, we did not 
feel that any thing was omitted which deserved attention 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 47 

" He then proceeded to defend the Republican party. Here 
he charged Mr. Doufj:las with doin? nothin<r for freedom ; with 
disregarding the rights and interests of the colored man : and 
for about forty minutes he spoke with a power that we have 
seldom heard equalled. There was a grandeur in his thoughts, 
a comprehensiveness in his arguments, and a binding force in his 
conclusions, which were perfectly irresistible. The vast throng 
were silent as death ; every eye was fixed upon the speaker, 
and all gave him serious attention. He was the tall man elo- 
quent ; his countenance glowed with animation, and his eye 
glistened with an intelligence that made it lustrous. He was no 
longer awkward and ungainly; but graceful, bold, commanding. 

'• Mr. Douglas had been quietly smoking up to this time ; but 
here he forgot his cigar and listened with anxious attention. 
When he rose to reply he appeared excited, disturbed, and his 
second effort seemed to us vastly inferior to his first. Mr. Lin- 
coln had given him a great task, and Mr. Douglas had not time 
to answer him, even if he had the ability." 

MR. LINCOLN DEFEATED BY MR. DOUGLAS. 

The election-day at length arrived, and although the 
efforts of Mr. Lincoln resulted in an immense increase of 
the Republican vote, whatever aspirations he had for per- 
sonal success were frustrated. A vote of 126,084 was 
cast for the Republican candidates, 121,940 for the Doug- 
las Democrats, and 5,091 for the Lecompton candidates, 
but Mr. Douglas was elected United States Senator by 
the Legislature, in which his supporters had a majority 
of eight on joint ballot. 

Although defeated in the hope of securing Mr. Lincoln 
as their representative in the United States Senate, the 
Republicans were not discouraged, and from that time de- 
termined that their favorite leader should be rewarded 
with even more exalted honors. 

IS NAMED FOR THE PRESIDENCY— EVIDENCE 
OP HIS SKILL AS A RAIL-SPLITTER. 

He was immodiately miMitionod prominently for the 
Presidency, and at a meeting of the Illinois State Repub- 
lican Convention, where he wa^ present as a spectator, a 
3 



48 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

veteran Democrat of Macon county brought in and pre- 
sented to the Convention two old fence-rails, gayly deco- 
rated with flags and ribbons, and upon which the follow- 
ing words were inscribed : 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

THE RAIL CANDIDATE 

FOR PRESIDENT IN 1860. 

Two rails from a lot of 3,000 made in 1830, by 

Thos. Hanks and Abe Lincoln — whose 

father was the first pioneer 

of Macon county. 



The event occasioned the most unbounded enthusiasm, 
and for several minutes the most deafening applause re- 
sounded throughthe building. Mr. Lincoln was vocifer- 
ously called for, and arising from his seat, modestly ac- 
knowledged that he had split rails some thirty j^ears pre- 
vious in Macon county, and he was informed that those 
before him were a small portion of the product of his 
labor with the axe. 

The fame of the able advocate of Republican principles 
induced the members of that party in other States to se- 
cure his voice and influence in their behalf, and in the fall 
of 1859 he made several eff"ective speeches in favor of the 
cause. 

HIS GREAT SPEECH AT THE COOPER INSTI- 
TUTE, NEW YORK. 

On the twenty-seventh of February, 18G0, he made the 

following forcible speech at the Cooper Institute, New 

York, before an immense audience : 

" Mr. President and Fellow-citizens op New Yortt : 
The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly oM 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 49 

tind familiar; nor is tlierc any things now in the general nse I 
shall make of them, if lliere shall be any novelty, it will be in 
the mode of presentinj^- the facts, and the inferences and obser- 
vations following that presentation. 

" In his speech last autumn, at Columbus, Ohio, as reported 
in The New York Times, Senator Douglas said: 

" ' Our fattiers, when they framed the Government undor 
which we live, understood this question just as well, and even 
better than we do now.' 

" I fully indorse this and I adopt it as a text for this discourse. 
I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and agreed starting 
point for the discussion between Republicans and that wing of 
Democracy headed by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the 
inquiry : ' What was the understanding those fathers had of the 
questions mentioned ?' 

" What is the frame of Government under which we live? 

" 'I'he answer must be: 'The Constitution of the United 
States.' That Constitution consists of the original, framed in 
1787 (and under which the present Government first went into 
operation), and twelve subsequently framed amendments, the first 
ten of which were framed in 1789. 

" Who were our fathers that IVamed the Constitution ? I sup- 
pose the ' thirty-nine' who signed the original instrument may 
be fairly called our fathers who framed that part of the present 
Government. It is almost exactly true to say they framed it, 
and it is altogether true to say they fairly represented the 
opinion and sentiment of the whole nation at that time. Their 
names being familiar to nearly all, and accessible to quite all, 
need not now be repeated. 

" I take these ' thirty-nine,' for the present, as being ' our 
fathers who framed the Government under which we live.' 

" What is the question which according to the text, those 
fathers understood jast as well, and even better than we do 
now ? 

" It is this : Does the proper division of local from federal 
authority, or any thing in the Constitution, forbid our Federal 
Government control as to slavery in our Federal Territories? 

"Upon this, Douglas holds the affirmative, and Republicans 
the negative. This affirmative and denial form an i^sue ; and 
this issue — this question — is precisely what the text declares 
our fathers understood better than we. 

" Let us now inquire whether the 'thirty-nine,' or any of them, 
ever acted upon this question ; and if they did, how they acted 
upon it — how they expressed that better understanding. 

"In 1784 — three years before the Constitution — the United 
States then owning the Northwestern "^rerritory, and no other — 
the Congress of the Confederation had before them the question 
of prohibiting slavery in that Territory; and four of the 
' thirty-uinc' who afterward framed the Constitution were iu that 



51 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Cow^ ^ss, and voted on tbat question. Of tliese, Roger Sher- 
Tnaa, fhoraas Mifflin, and Hugh Williamson voted for tlie pro- 
hibiti )n — thus showiii<ij that, in their understanding-, no line 
dividing local from federal authority, nor any thing else, prop- 
erly fo.bade the Federal Government to control as to slavery ia 
federa.' lerritory. The other of the four — Jaraes Mc Henry — ■ 
voted agAinst the prohibition, showing that, for some cause, he 
thought ii improper to vote for it. 

" In l^dT, still before the Constitution, but while the Con- 
vention was in session framing it, and while the Northwestern 
Territory sijl was the only territory owned by the United States 
— the samu question of prohibiting slavery in the territory 
again came uefore the Congress of the Confederation ; and three 
more of the ' thirty-nine' who afterward signed the Constitution, 
were in that Congress, and voted on the question. They were 
William Blout.t. AVilliam Few and Abraham Baldwin ; and 
they all voted ior the prohibition — thus showing that, in their 
understanding, oo line dividing local from federal authority, nor 
any thing else, properly forbids the Federal Government to 
control as to sla*-tiry in federal territory. This time the pro- 
hibition became a \b.w, being part of what is now well known as 
the Ordinance of '8V 

" 'J'he question of federal control of slavery in the territories, 
neems not to have been directly before the Convention which 
framed the original "constitution ; and hence it is not recorded 
that the ' thirty-nine' ur any of them, while engaged on that 
instrument, expressed any opinion on that precise question. 

"In 1789, by the tiidt Congress which sat under the Con- 
stitution, an act was passed to enforce the Ordinance of '87 
including the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Terri- 
tory. The bill for this act was reported by one of the ' thirty- 
/line,' Thomas Fitzsimmons, then a member of the House of 
Representatives from Penn3ylvania. It M'ent through all its 
stages without a word of opposition, and finally passed both 
branches without yeas and nays, which is equivalent to an unani- 
mous passage. In this Congress there were sixteen of the 
' thirty-nine' fathers who framed the original Constitution. 
They were John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman, Wni. S. Johnson, 
Boger Sherman, Robert Morris, Thos. Fitzsimmons, William 
Few, Abraham Baldwin, Rufus King, William Patterson, 
George Clymer, Richard Bassett, Geoi'ge Read, Pierce Butler, 
Daniel Carrol, James Madison. 

" This shows that, in their understanding, no line dividing local 
Jfrom federal authority, nor any thing in the Constitution, 
properly forbade Congress to prohibit slavery in the federal 
ienitory; else both their fidelity to correct principle, and their 
oath to support the Constitution, would have constrained them 
itj oppose the prohibition. 

"Ai-iiti, George Washington, another of the 'thirty-nine,* 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 51 

was then President of the United States, and, as snch, approved 
and signed the bill, thus conii)letin,<r its validity as a law, and 
thus showinj^ that, in his understandin,!?, no line dividing local 
from federal authoritj', nor any thing in the Constitution, for- 
bade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in federal 
territory. 

" No great while after the adoption of the original Constitu 
tion. North Carolina ceded to the Federal Government the 
country now constituting the State of Tennessee ; and a few 
years later Georgia ceded that which now constitutes the States 
of Mississippi and Alabama. In both deeds of cession it waa 
made a condition by the ceding States that the Federal Gov- 
ernment should not prohibit slavery in the ceded country. 
Besides this, slavery was then actually in the ceded country. 
Under these circumstances, Congress, on taking ciiarge of these 
countries did not absolutely prohibit slavery within them. But 
they did interfere with it— take control of it — even there, to a 
certain extent. In 1798, Congress organized the Territory of 
Mississippi. In the act of organization they prohibited the 
bringing of slaves into the Territory, from any place without the 
United States, by fine and giving freedom to slaves so brought. 
This act passed both branches of Congress without yeas and 
nays. lu tlwt Congress were three of the ' thirty-nine' who 
framed tlie original Constitution. 'I'hey were John Lan^^don, 
George Read, and Abraham Baldwin. They all, probably, 
voted for it. Certainly they would have placed their opposition 
to it upon record, if, in their understanding, any line dividing 
local from federal authority, or any thing in the Constitution, 
properly forbade the Federal Government to control as to 
slavery in federal territory. 

" In 1803, the Federal Government purchased the Louisiana 
country. Our former territorial acquisitions came from certain 
of our own States ; but this Louisiana country was acquired 
from a foreign nation. In 1804, Congress gave a territorial 
organization to that part of it which now constitutes the State 
of Louisiana. New Orleans, lying within that part, was an old 
and comparatively large city. There were other considerable 
towns and settlements, and slavery was e.xtensively and 
thoroughly intermingled witli the people. Congress did not. in 
the Territorial Act, prohibit Slavery; but they did interfere 
with it — take control of it — in a more marked and e.xtensive 
way than they did in the case of Mississippi. The substance 
of the provision therein made, in relation to slaves, was : 

"Firnf. That no slave should be imported into the territory 
from foreign parts. 

"Secoiid. 'i'hat no slave should be carried into it who had 
been imported into the United States since the first day of May, 
1798. 

"Third. That no slave should be carried into it, except by 



52 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LTXCOLN. 

the owner, and for his own nse as a settler; the penalty in all 
the cases being a fine upon the violator of the law, and freedom 
to the slave. 

" This act also was passed without yeas and nays. In the 
Congress which passed it, there were two of the ' thirty-nine.' 
They were Abraham Baldwin and Jonathan Dayton. As 
stated in the case of Mississippi, it is probable they both voted 
for it. They would not have allowed it to pass without record- 
ing their opposition to it, if, in their understanding, it violated 
either the line proper dividing local from Federal authority or 
any provision of the Constitution. 

"In 1819-20, came and passed the Missouri question. Many 
votes were taken, by yeas and nays, in both branches of Con- 
gress, upon the various phases of the general question. "JVo 
of the 'thirty-nine' — Rufus King and Charles Pinckney- — were 
members of that Congress. Mr. King steadily voted for slavery 
prohibition and against all compromises, while Mr. Pinckney as 
steadily voted against slavery prohibition and against all com- 
promises. By this Mr. King showed that, in his understanding, 
no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor any thing in 
the Constitution, was violated by Congress prohibiting slavery 
in federal territory ; while Mr. Pinckney, by his votes, showed 
that iu his understanding there was some suiBcient reason for 
opposing such prohibition in that case. 

" The cases I have mentioned are the only acts of the ' thirty- 
nine,' or of any of them, upon the direct issue, which I have 
been able to discover. 

"To enumerate the persons who thus acted, as being four in 
1784, three in 1787, seventeen iu 1789, three in 1798, two in 
1804, and two in 1819-20 — ^there would be thirty-one of them. 
But this would be counting John Langdon, Roger Sherman, 
"William Few, Rufus King, and George Read, each twice, and 
Abraham Baldwin four times. The true number of those of the 
'thirty-nine' whom I have shown to have acted upon the ques- 
tion, which, by the text they understood better than we, is 
twenty-three, leaving sixteen not shown to have acted upon it 
in any way. 

" Here, then, we have twenty-three out of our ' thirty-nine' 
fathers who framed the government under which we live, who 
have, upon their official responsibility and their corporal oaths, 
acted u])on the very question which the text affirms they 'un- 
derstood just as well, and even better than we do now;' and 
twenty-one of them — a clear majority of the ' thirty-nine' — so 
acting upon it as to make them guilty of gross political impro- 
priety, and wilful perjury, if, in their understanding, any proper 
division between local and Federal authority, or any thing in the 
Constitution they had made themselves, and sworn to support, 
forbade the Federal government to control as to slavery iu the 
Federal territories. Thus the twenty-one acted ; and, as actions 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 

ppeak loudor than words, so actions under such responsibility 
spi'ak still louder. 

" Two of the twonty-throe voted against Congressional pro- 
hibition of slavery in the Federal territories, in the instances in 
which they acted ui)on the question. But for what reasons they 
BO voted is not known. They may have done so because they 
tliought a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some 
provision or principle of the Constitution, stood in the way ; or 
they may, without any such question, have voted against the pro- 
hibition, on what appeared to thcra to be sufficient grounds of ex- 
pediency. No one who has sworn to support the Constitution, can 
conscientiously vote for what he understands to be an unfconsti- 
tutional measure, however expedient he may think it; but one 
may and ouglit to vote against a measure which he deems con- 
stitutional, if. at the same time, he deems it inexpedient. It, 
therefore, would be unsafe to set down even the two who voted 
against the prohibition, as having done so because, in their un- 
derstanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, 
or any thing in the Constitution, forbade the Federal govern- 
ment to control as to slavery in Federal territory. 

"The remaining sixteen of the ' thirty-nine,' so far as I have 
discovered, have left no record of their understanding upon the 
direct question of Federal control of slavery in the Federal ter- 
ritories. But there is much reason to believe that their under- 
standing upon that question would not have appeared different 
from that of their twenty-three compeers, had it been manifested 
at all. 

" For the purpose of adhering rigidly to the text, I have pur- 
posely omitted whatever understanding may have been mani- 
fested, by any person, however distinguished, other than the 
' thirty-nine' fathers who framed the original Constitution ; and, 
for the same reason, I have also omitted whatever understanding 
may have been manifested by any of the 'thirty-nine' even, on 
any other phase of the general question of slavery. If we should 
look into their acts and declarations on those other phases, as the 
foreign slave-trade, and the morality and policy of slavery gen- 
erally, it would appear to us that on the direct question of. Fed- 
eral control of slavery in Federal territories, the sixteen, if they 
had acted at all, would probably have acted just as the twenty- 
three did. Among that sixteen were several of the most noted 
anti-slavery men of those times — as Dr. Franklin, Alexander 
Hamilton, and Governeur Morris — while there was not one now 
known to have been otherwise, unless it may be John Rutledge, 
of South Carolina. 

"The sum of the whole is, that of our 'thirty-nine' fathers 
who framed the original Constitution, twenty-one — a clear ma- 
jority of the whole — certainly understood that no proper division 
of local from Federal authority nor any part of the Constitution, 
forbade the Federal government to control slavery in the Fed- 



54 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

oral tefritoriea, while all the rest probably had the same under- 
standing. Such, unquestionably, was the understanding of our 
fathers who framed the original Constitution; and the text 
affirms that they understood the question better than we. 

"But, so far, I have been considering the understanding of 
the question manifested by the framers of the original Constitu- 
tion. In and by the original instrument, a mode was provided 
for amending it ; and, as I have already stated, the present 
frame of government under which we live consists of that 
original, and twelve amendatory articles framed and adopted 
since. Those who now insist that Federal control of slavery in 
Federal territories violates the Constitution, point us to the 
provisions which they suppose it thus violates ; and, as I under- 
stand, they all fix upon provisions iu these amendatory articles, 
and not in the original instrument. The Supreme Court, in tho 
Dred Scott case, plant themselves upon the fifth amendment, 
which provides that ' no person shall be deprived of property 
without due process of law ;' while Senator Douglas and his 
peculiar adherents plant themselves upon the tenth amendment, 
providing that 'the powers not granted by the Constitution are 
reserved to the States respectively, and to the people.' 

"Now, it so happens that these amendments were framed by 
the first Congress which sat under the Constitution — the identi- 
cal Congress which passed the act already mentioned, enforcing 
the prohibition of slavery in the northwestern territory. Not 
only was it the same Congress, but they were the identical, same 
individual men who, at the same session, and at the same time 
within the session, had under consideration, and in progress 
toward maturity, these Constitutional amendments, and this act 
prohibiting slavery in all the territory the nation then owned. 
The Constitutional amendments were introduced before, and 
passed after the act enforcing the Ordinance of '87 ; so that 
during the whole pendency of the act to enforce the Ordinance, 
the Constitutional amendments were also pending. 

" That Congress, consisting in all of seventy-six members, in- 
cluding sixteen of the framers of the original Constitution, as 
before stated, were pre-eminently our fathers who framed that 
part of the government under which we live, which is now 
claimed as forbidding the Federal government to control 
slavery in the Federal territories. 

" Is it not a little presumptuous in any one at this day to 
affirm that the two things which that Congress deliberately 
framed, and carried to maturity at the same time, are absolutely 
inconsistent with each other? And does not such affirmation 
become impudently absurd when coupled with the other affirma- 
tion, from the same mouth, tliat those who did the two things 
alleged to be inconsistent understood whether they really were 
inconsistent better than we — better than he who affirms that 
they arc inconsistent? 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 55 

"It is snrely safe to assume that the 'thirty-nine' framera of 
the orif^final Coiistitulioii, and the seventy-six members of the 
Congress which framed tiie amendments thereto, taken to.[;ether, 
do certainly include those who may be fairly called 'our fathers 
who framed the government under which we live.' And so as- 
suininii, I defy any man to show that any one of them ever, in 
his whole life, declared that, in his understanding, any proper 
division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Con- 
stitution, forbade the Federal government to control as to 
slavery in the Federal territories. I go a step further. I defy 
any one to show that any living man in the whole world ever 
did, prior to the beginning of the present century (and I might 
almost say prior to the beginning of the last half of the present 
century), declare that, in his understanding, any proper division 
of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Constitution, 
forbade the Federal government to control as to slavery in the 
Federal territories. To those who now so declare, I give, not 
only 'our fathers who framed the government under which wo 
live,' but with them all other living men within the century in 
which it was framed, among whom to search, and they shall not 
be able to find the evidence of a single man agreeing with them. 

"Now, and here, let me guard a little against being misun- 
derstood. I do not mean to say we are bound to follow im- 
plicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so, would be to 
discard all the lights of current experience — we reject all prog- 
ress — all improvement. What I do say is, that if we would 
supplant the opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we 
should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so clear, 
that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, 
cannot stand ; and most surely not in a case whereof we our- 
selves declare they understood the question better than we. 

" If any man, at this day, sincerely believes that a proper 
division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the 
Constitution, forbids the Federal government to control as to 
slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to say so, and to 
enforce his position by all truthful evidence and fair argument 
which he can. But he has no right to mislead others, who have 
less access to history and less leisure to study it, into the false 
belief that 'our fathers, who framed the government under 
which we live,' were of the same opinion — thus substituting false- 
hood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument. If 
any man, at this day, sincerely believes' oar fathers, who framed 
the government under which we live,' used and applied princi- 
ples, in other cases, which ought to have led them to understand 
that a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some 
part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal government to 
control as to slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to say 
60. But he should, at the same time, brave the responsibility 
of declaring that, in his opinion, he understands their principiea 



56 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

better than tbey did themselves; and especially should he not 
shirk that responsibility by asserting that they ' uudtTstood the 
question just as well, and even better than we do now.' 

"But enough. Let all wlio believe that ' our fathers, who 
framed the government under which we live, understood this 
question just as well, and even better than we do now,' speak as 
they spoke, and act as tliey acted upon it. This is all Republi- 
cans ask, all Republicans desire, in relation to slavery. As 
tliose fathers marked it, so let it be again marked, as an evil not 
to be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only because 
of and so far as its actual presence among us makes that tolera- 
tion and protection a necessity. Let all the guaranties those 
fathei-s gave it, be, not gruilgingly, but fully and fairly maiu- 
taiued. For this Republicans contend, and with this, so far as 
I know or believe, they will be content. 

"And now, if they would listen — as I suppose they will not — 
I would address a few words to the Southern people. 

"I would say to them : You consider yourselves a reasonable 
and a just people; and I consider that, in the general qualities 
of reason and justice, you are not inferior to any other people. 
Still, when you speak of us Republicans, you do so only to de- 
nounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. 
You will grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing 
like it to ' Black Republicans.' In all your contentions with 
one another, each of you deems an unconditional condemnation 
of ' Black Republicanism' as the first thing to be attended to. 
Indeed, such condemnation of us seems to be an indispensable 
prerequisite — license, so to speak — among you to be admitted 
or permitted to speak at all. 

" Now can you, or not, be prevailed upon to pause and to 
consider whether this is quite just to us, or even to yourselves? 

" Bring forward your charges and specifications, and then be 
patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. 

" You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes au 
issue ; and the burden of proof is upon yon. You produce your 
proof; and what is it? Vvhy, that our party has no existence 
in your section — gets no votes in ygur section. The fact is sub- 
stantially true; but does it prove the issue? If it does, then, 
in case we should, without change of principle, begin to get 
votes in your section, we should thereby cease to be sectional. 
You cannot escape this conclusion ; and yet, are you willing to 
abide by it ? If you are, you will probably soon find that we 
have ceased to be sectional, for we shall get votes in your sec- 
tion this very year. You will then begin to discover, as the 
truth plainly is, that your proof does not touch the issue. The 
fact that we get no votes in your section is a fact of your 
making, and not of ours. And if there be fault in that fact, 
that fault is primarily yours, and remains so until you show that 
we repel you by some wrong principle or practice. If we do 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 

repel you by any wrong principle or practice, the fault is ours ; 
but this brings us to where you ought to have started — to a dis- 
cussion of tlie right or wrong of our principle. If our principle, 
put in practice, would wrong your section tor the benefit of ours, 
or for any other object, then our principle, and we with it, are 
sectional, and are justly opposed and denounced as such. 
Meet us, then, on the question of whether our principle, put in 
practice, would wronij: your section ; and so meet it as if it were 
])ussible that something may be said on our side. Do you ac- 
cept the challenge? No? Then you really believe that the 
principle which our fathers, who framed the government under 
which we live, thought so clearly right as to adopt tt, and indorse 
it again and again upon their otlicial oaths, is, in fact, so clearly 
wrong as to demand your condemnation without a moment's 
consideration. 

'• Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the warning 
'against sectional parties given by Washington in his Farewell 
Address. Less than eight years before Washington gave that 
warning, he had, as President of the United States, approved 
and signed an act of Congress enforcing the prohibition of 
slavery in the Northwestern Territory, which act embodied the 
policy of the government upon that subject, up to and at the 
very moment he penned that warning; and about one year after 
he penned it he wrote Lafayette that he considered that prohi- 
bition a wise measure, expressing, in the same connection, his 
hope that we should some time have a confederacy of free 
States. 

" Bearing this in mind, and seeing that sectionalism has. since 
arisen upon this same subject, is that warning a weapon in your 
hands against us, or in our hands against you? Could Wash- 
ington himself speak, would he cast the blame of that sectional- 
ism upon us, who sustain his policy, or upon you, who repudiate 
it? We respect that warning of Washington, and we commend 
it to you, together with his example pointing to the right ap- 
jdication of it. 

" But you say you are conservative — eminently conservative — 
while we are revolutionary, destructive, or something of the 
sort. What is conservatism ? Is it not adherence to the old 
and tried against the new and untried? We stick to, contend 
fur, the identical old policy on the point in controversy which 
was adopted by our fathers who framed the government under 
which we live ; while you, with one accord, reject, and scout, 
and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon substituting some- 
thing new. 'J'rue, you disagree among yourselves as to what 
that substitute shall be. You have considerable variety of new 
propositions and plans, but you are unaninious in rejecting and 
denouncing the old policy of the fathers. Some of you are for 
reviving the foreign slave-trade ; some for a Congressional 
•Slave-Code for the Territories ; some for Congress forbidding 



58 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

the Territories to prohibit slavery within their limits; some for 
maintaining slavery in the Tei-ritories through the Judiciary ; 
some for the 'gur-reat pur-rinciple' that, ' if one man would en- 
slave another, no tiiird man should object,' fantastically called 
' Popular Sovereignty ;' but never a man among you in favor of 
Federal prohibition of slavery in Federal Territories, according 
to the practice of our fathers who framed the government under 
which we live. Not one of all your various plans can show a 
precedent or an advocate in the century within which our go- 
vernment originated. Consider, then, whether your claim of 
conservatism for yourselves, and your charge of destructiveness 
against us, are'based on the most clear and stable foundations. 

"Again, you say we have made the slavery question more 
prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We admit that 
it is more prominent, but we deny that we made it so. It was 
not we, but you, who discarded the old policy of the fathers. 
We resisted, and still resist, your innovation ; and thence comes 
the greater prominence of the question. Would you have that 
question reduced to its former proportions ? Go back to that 
old policy. What has been will be again, under the same con- 
ditions. If you would have the peace of the old times, re-adopt 
the precepts and policy of the old times. 

"You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves. 
We deny it. And what is your proof ? Harper's Ferry ! John 
Brown I John Brown was no Republican ; and you have failed 
to implicate a single Republican in his Harper's Ferry enter- 
prise. If any member of our party is guilty in that matter, you 
know it, or you do not know it. If you do know it, you are in- 
excusable to not designate the man, and {Trove the fact. If you 
do not know it, you are inexcusable to assert it, and especi- 
ally to persist in the, assertion after you have tried and failed to 
make the proof. You need not be told that persisting in a 
charge which one does not know to be true is simply malicious 
slander. 

" Some of you admit that no Republican designedly aided or 
encouraged the Harper's Ferry affair ; but still insist that our 
doctrines and declarations necessarily lead to such results. We 
do not believe it. We know we hold to no doctrine, and make 
uo declarations which were not held to and made by our fathers 
who framed the government under which we live. You never 
deal fairly by us in relation to this affair. When it occurred, 
some important State elections were near at hand, and you 
were in evident glee with the belief that, by charging the blame 
upon us, you could get an advantage of us in those elections. 
'Vhe elections came, and your expectations were not quite ful- 
filled. Every Republican man knew that, as to himself, at least, 
your charge was a slander, and he was not much inclined by it 
to cast his vote in your favor. Republican doctrines and decla- 
rations are accompanied with a continual protest against any 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 

interference whatever with your slaves, or with you abont yonr 
slaves. Surely, this docs not encouraj(e them to revolt. True, 
we do, in common with our fathers, who framed the government 
under which we live, declare our belief that slavery is wrong; 
but the slaves do not hoar us declare even this. For any thing 
we say or do, the slaves would scarcely know there is*a Repub- 
lican party. 1 believe tlicy would not, in fact, generally know 
it but for your misrepresentations of us in their hearing. In 
your political contests among yourselves, each faction charges 
the other with sympathy with Black liepublicanism; and then, 
to give point to the charge, defines Black Republicanism to 
simply be insurrection, blood and thunder among the slaves. 

" Slave insurrections are no more common now than they 
were before the Republican party was organized. What in- 
duced the Southampton insurrection, twenty-eight years ago, in 
which, at least, three times as many lives were lost as at Har- 
per's Ferry? You can scarcely stretch your very elastic fancy 
to the conclusion that Southampton was got up by Black Re- 
publicanism. In the present state of things in the United 
States, I do not think a general, or even a very extensive slave 
insurrection, is possible. The indispensable concert of action 
cannot be attained. The slaves have no means of rapid com- 
munication ; nor can incendiary free men, black or white, sup- 
ply it. The explosive materials are everywhere in parcels ; but 
there neither are, nor can be supplied, the indispensable con- 
necting trains. 

" Much is said by southern people about the affection of 
slaves for their masters and mistresses ; and a part of it, at least, 
is true. A plot for an uprising could scarcely be devised and 
communicated to twenty individuals before some one of them, 
to save the life of a favorite master or mistress, would divulge 
it. This is the rule ; and the slave revolution in Hayti was not 
an exception to it, but a case occurring under peculiar circum- 
stances. The gunpowder-plot of British history, though not 
connected with the slaves, was more in point. In that case, 
only about twenty were admitted to the secret ; and yet one of 
them, in his anxiety to save a friend, betrayed the plot to that 
friend, and, by consequence, averted the calamity. Occasional 
poisonings from the kitchen, and open or stealthy assassinations 
in the held, and local revolts extending to a score or so, will 
continue to occur as the natural results of slavery; but no gen- 
eral insurrection of slaves, as I think, can happen in this country 
for a long time. Whoever much fears, or much hopes, for such 
an event, will be alike disappointed. 

" In the language of Mr. Jefferson, uttered many years ago, 
' It is still in our power to direct the process of emancipation, 
and deportation, peaceably, and in such slow degrees, as that the 
evil will wear off insensibly ; and their place be, jiari passu, 
filled up by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to 



60 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAtVI LINCOLN. 

force itself on, humau nature must sbutlder at the prospect 
held up.' 

" Mr. Jefferson did not mean to say, nor do I, that the power 
of emancipation is in the Federal Government. He spolie of 
Virginia ; and, as to the power of emancipation, I speak of the 
slaveholdtng States only. 

"The Federal Government, however, as we insist, has the 
power of restraining the extension of the institution — the power 
to insure that a slave insurrection shall never occur on any 
American soil which is now free from slavery. 

" John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insur- 
rection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt 
among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate. In 
fact, it was so absurd that the slaves, with all their ignorance, 
saw plainly enough it could not succeed. That- affair, in its 
philosophy, corresponds with the many attempts, related in his- 
tory, at the assassination of kings and emperors. An enthusiast 
broods over the oppression of a people till he fancies himself 
commissioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the 
attempt, which ends in little else than in his own execution. 
Orsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon, and John Brown's attempt 
at Harper's Ferry were, in their philosophy, precisely the same. 
'J'he eagerness to cast blame on old England in the one case, 
and on New England in the other, does not disprove the same- 
ness of the two things. 

"And how much would it avail you, if you could, by the use 
of John Brown, Helper's book, and the like, break up the lie- 
publican organization ? Humau action can be modified to some 
extent, but humau nature cannot be changed. There is a judg- 
ment and a feeling against slavery in this nation, which cast at 
least a million and a-half of votes. You cannot destroy that 
judgment and feeling — that sentiment — by breaking up the poli- 
tical organization which rallies around it. You can scarcely 
scatter and disperse an army which has been formed into order 
in the face of your heaviest fire ; but if you could, how much 
■would you gain by forcing the sentiment which created it out 
of the peaceful channel of the ballot-box, into some other chan- 
nel ? What would that other channel probably be ? Would the 
Dumber of John Browns be lessened or enlarged by the 
operation. 

" But you will break up the Union rather than submit to a 
denial of your Constitutional rights. 

" That has a somewhat reckless sound ; but it would be pal- 
liated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by the mere 
force of numbers, to deprive you of some right plainly written 
down in the Constitution. But we are proposing no such thing. 

"When you make these declarations, you have a specific and 
well-understood allusion to an assumed Constitutional right of 
yours, to take slaves into the federal territories, and hold them 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN; 61 

there as property. But no such right is specifically written in 
the Conslilutiou. That instruinoiit is literally sik'ut about any 
such right. We, on the contrary, deny that such a right haa 
any existence in the Coustitution, even by implication. 

" Your purpose, then, i)lainly stated, is, that you will destroy 
the Government, unless you bo allowed to construe and enforce 
the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between 
you and us. You will rule or ruin in ail events. 

" This, plainly stated, is your language to us. Perhaps you 
will say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed Constitu- 
tional question in your favor. Not quite so. But waiving the 
lawyer's distinction between dictum and decision, the Courts 
have decided the question for you in a sort of way. The Courts 
have substantially said, it is your Constitutional right to take 
slaves into the Federal Territories, and to hold them there as 
property. 

" When I say the decision was made in a sort of way, I mean 
it was made in a divided Court by a bare majority of the Judges, 
and they nut quite agreeing with one another in the reasons for 
making it; that it is so made as that its avowed supporters 
disagree with one another about its meaning, and that it was 
mainly based upon a mistaken statenifntof fact — the statement 
iu the opinion that ' the right of projjerty in a slave is distinctly 
and expressly affirmed in the Constitution,' 

" An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right 
of property in a slave is not distinctly and expressly atfinned in 
it. Bear in mind the Judges do not pledge their judicial 
opinion that such right is impliedly affirmed in the Constitution ; 
but they pledge their veracity that it is distinctly and expressly 
affirmed there — 'distinctly' that is, not mingled with any thing 
else — ' expressly' that is, in words meaning just that, without 
the aid of any inference, and susceptible of no other meaning. 

" If they had only pledged their judicial opinion that such 
right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, it would bo 
open to others to show that neither the word ' slave' nor ' sla- 
very' is to be found in the Constitution, nor the word ' property' 
even, in any connection with language alluding to the things 
slave, or slavery, and that wherever in that instrument the slave 
is alluded to, he is called a ' person ;' and wherever his master's 
legal right in relation to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as 
' service or labor duo,' as a ' debt' ])ayable in service or labor. 
Also, it would be open to show, by contemporaneous histury, 
that this mode of alluding to slaves and slavery, instead of 
speaking of them, was employed on purpose to exclude from the 
Constitution the idea that there could be property in man. 

" To show all this is easy and certain. 

"When this obvious mistake of the Judges shall be brought 
to their notice, is it not reasonable to expect that they will 
withdraw the mistaken statement, and reconsider the couciusion 
based upon it ? 



62 LIFE AN'D SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

"And then it is to be remombered that 'our fathers, who 
framed the Government under which we live' — the men who 
made the Constitution — decided this same Constitutional question 
in our favor, king ago — decided it without a division among them- 
selves, when making the decision ; without division among 
themselves about the meaning of it after it was made, and so 
far as any evidence is left, without basing it upon any mistaken 
statement of facts. 

" Under all these circumstances, do you really feel yourselves 
justified to break up this Government, unless such a court 
decision as yours is, shall be at once submitted to, as a conclusive 
and final rule of political action. 

" But you will not abide the election of a Republican Presi- 
dent. In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the 
Union ; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed 
it will be upon us ! 

" That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and 
mutters through his teeth, ' stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, 
and then you will be a murderer !' 

"To be sure, what the robber demanded of me — my money- 
was my own ; and 1 had a clear right to keep it; but it was no 
more my own than my vote is my own ; and threat of death to 
me, to extort my money, and threat of destruction to the 
Union, to extort my vote, can scarcely be distinguished in 
principle. 

"A few words now to Republicans. It is exceedingly desira- 
ble that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, 
and in harmony, one with another. Let us Republicans do our 
part to have it so. Even though much provoked, let us do 
nothing through passion and ill temper. Even though the 
southern people will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly 
consider their demands, and yield to them if, in our deliberate 
view of our duty, we possibly can. Judging by all they say and 
do, and by the subject and nature of their controversy with us, 
let us determine, if we can, what will satisfy them ? 

" Will they be satisfied if the Territories be unconditionally 
surrendered to them? We know they will not. In all their 
present complaints against us, the Territories are scarcely 
mentioned. Invasions and insurrections are the rage now. 
Will it satisfy them if, in the future, we have nothing to do with 
invasions and insurrections? We know it will not. We so 
know because we know we never had any thing to do with 
invasions and insurrections ; and yet this total abstaining does 
not exempt us from the charge and the denunciation. 

" The question recurs, what will satisfy them ? Simply this : 
We must not only let them alone, but we must, somehow, con- 
vince them that we do let them alone. This, we know by 
experience, is no easy task. We have been so trying to 
convince them from the very beginning of our orgauizatiou. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 63 

but with DO sncces3. In all onr platforms and speeches we have 
constantly protested our purpose to let them alone; but this 
has had uo teudency to convince them. Alike unavailing to 
convince them is the fact that they have never detected a man 
of us in any attempt to disturb them. 

"These natural, and apparently adequate means all failing, 
what will convince them ? This, and this only : cease to call 
slavery lorong, and join them in calling it right. And this must 
be done thoroughly — done in acts as well as in words. Silence 
will not be tolerated — we must place ourselves avowedly with 
them. Douglas's new sedition law must be enacted and en- 
forced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, 
whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. 
We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy 
pleasure. We must pull down our Free-State Constitu- 
tions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all 
taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe 
that all their troubles proceed from us. 

" I am quite aware they do not state their case precisely in 
this way. Most of them would probably say to us, ' Let us 
alone, do nothing to us, and say what you please about slavery.' 
But we do let them alone — have never disturbed them — so that, 
after all, it is what we say, which dissatisfies them. They will 
continue to accuse us of doing, until we cease saying. 

" I am also aware they have not, as yet, in terms demanded 
the overthrow of our Free-State Constitutions. Yet those 
Constitutions declare the wrong of slavery, with more solemn 
emphasis, than do all other sayings against it ; and when all 
these other sayings shall have been silenced, the overthrow of 
these Constitutions will be demanded, and nothing be left to 
i-esist the demand. It is nothing to the contrary, that they do 
not demand the whole of this just now. Demanding what 
they do, and for the reason they do, they can voluntarily stop 
nowhere short of this consummation. Holding, as they do, 
that slavery is morally right, and socially elevating, they cannot 
cease to demand a full national recognition of it, as u legal 
right, and a social blessing. 

"Nor can we justifiably withhold this, on any ground save 
our conviction that slavery is wrong. If slavery is right, all 
words, acts, laws, and constitutions against it, are themselve.s 
wrouff, and should be silenced, and swept away. If it is right, 
we cannot justly object to its nationality — its universality ; if it 
is wrong, they cannot justly insist upon its extension — its 
enlargement. All they ask. we could readily grant, if wo 
thought slavery right ; all we ask, thoy could as readily grant, 
if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it right, and our 
thinking it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends tho 
whole controversy. Thinking it right, as they do, they are not 
Jo blame for desiring its foil recognition, as being right; but, 
4 



64 LIFE AJSTD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them ? Can we 
cast our votes with their view, and against our own ? In view 
of our moral, social, and political responsibilities, can we do this ? 

" Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it 
alone where it is, because that much is due to the necessity 
arising from its actual presence in the nation ; but can we, 
while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the 
National Territories, and to overrun us here in these Free 
States ? 

" If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our 
duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of 
those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously 
Dlied and belabored — contrivances such as groping for some 
middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the 
search for a man who should be neitiier a living man nor a dead 
man — such as a policy of ' don't care' on a question about 
which all true men do care — such as Union appeals beseeching 
true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the divine 
rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repen- 
tance — such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to 
unsay what Washington said, and undo what AVashiugton did. 

" Neitherlet us be slandered from our duty by false accusations 
against us, not frightened from it by menaces of destruction to 
the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have 
faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, 
dare to do our duty, as we understand it." 

IS NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT OP THE 
UNITED STATES BY THE REPUBLICAN CON- 
VENTION.. 

On the sixteenth of May, 1860, the Republican National 
Convention assembled in Chicago, for the purpose of 
nominating candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presi- 
dency. The first day was spent in organizing, and the 
second, in adopting rules for the government of the Con- 
vention and the platform of the party, and on the third, 
the body proceeded to ballot for the two candidates. 
Mr. Lincoln was nominated for President by Mr. Judd, 
of Illinois, and on the first ballot, received 102 votes, Mr. 
Seward receiving, on the same ballot, 113^ votes, and the 
balance being divided between the other candidates. On 
the second ballot, the vote stctod : Lincoln, 181 ; Seward, 
184^; and on the third, Mr. Ijincoln received 230^ votes, 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 65 

or within one and one-half of a nomination. One of the 
delegates then changed four votes of his State, giving them 
to Mr. Lincoln, thus nominating him, and then, amid a 
scene of the most intense excitement, vote after vote was 
changed to the successful candidate, until at length the 
nomination was made unanimous. The selection was re- 
ceived by the Republican voters of the country with the 
most unbounded enthusiasm, and immediate preparations 
were made for an arduous campaign. The antecedents 
of their standard-bearer were of such an honorable and 
noble character, that they felt convinced the different fac- 
tions among the opposition — indeed, all who were inspired 
more by patriotism than party predilections — would sup- 
port him in the canvass and at the ballot-box. The ar- 
chitect of his own fortunes, he had raised himself from 
obscurity to eminence and distinction. Born in a floorless 
log-cabin, in a Kentucky wilderness ; the child of humble 
and uneducated, but Christian parents ; and with no edu- 
cation save that received during six months tuition in an 
unpretending school-house, and from attentive study at 
home by the light of a log fire, Abraham Lincoln, by his 
indefatigable perseverance and energy, rapidly rose from 
one position of trust and responsibility to another, until 
he attained the nomination of a great political party for 
the highest office in the gi/t of the American people. 

IS NOTIFIED OF HIS NOMINATION— THE 
ADDRESSES ON THE OCCASION. 

The committee appointed by the Convention to notify 
Mr. Lincoln of his nomination, performed their duty 
without delay, jand upon arriving at his residence in 
Springfield, whither they were escorted by an immense 
concourse of citizens, the President of the Convention 
addressed the nominee as follows : 



6Q LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 



SPEECH OP THE PRESIDENT OP THE CON- 
VENTION. 

"I, have, sir, the honor, in behalf of the gentlemen who are 
present, a Committee appointed by the Republican Convention, 
recently assembled at Chicago, to discharge a most pleasant 
duty. We have come, sir, under a vote of instructions to that 
Committee, to notify you that you have been selected by the 
Convention of the Kepublicans at Chicago, for President of the 
United States. They instruct us, sir, to notify you of that 
selection, and that Committee deem it not only respectful to 
yourself, but appropriate to the important matter which they 
have in hand, that they should come in person, and present to 
you the authentic evidence of the action of that Convention ; 
and, sir, without any phrase which shall either be considered 
personally plauditory to yourself, or which shall have any refer- 
ence to the principles involved in the questions which are con- 
nected with your nomination, I desire to present to you the 
letter which has been prepared, and which informs you of tho 
nomination, and with it the platform, resolutions and sentiments, 
which the Convention adopted. Sir, at your convenience, wo 
shall be glad to receive from you such a response as it may bo 
your pleasure to give us." 

REPLY OP MR. LINCOLN. 

In response, Mr. Lincoln said : 

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlewen of the Committee : I tender 
to you, and through you to the Republican National Convention, 
and all the people represented in it, my profoundest thanks for 
the high honor done me, which you now formally announce. 
Deeply, and even painfully sensible of the great responsibility 
which is inseparable from this high honor — a responsibility 
which I could almost wish had fallen upon some one of the far 
more eminent men and experienced statesmen whose distin- 
guished names were before the Convention, I shall, by your 
leave, consider more fully the resolutions of the Convention, 
denominated the platform, and without unnecessary or unrea- 
sonable delay, respond to you, Mr. Chairman, in writing, not 
doubting that the platform will be found satisfactory, and the 
nomination gratefully accepted. And now I will not longer 
defer the pleasure of taking you, and each of you, by the hand." 

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE CONVEN- 
TION AND MR. LINCOLN. 

The following letter was addressed to Mr. Lincoln bj 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 67 

the President of the Convention, and a committee ap- 
pointed for that purpose : 

" Chicago, May I8th, 1860. 
" To THE Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. 

" Sir : The representatives of the Republican party of the 
United States, assembled in Convention at Chicago, have this 
day by a unanimous vote, selected you as the Republican can- 
didate for the office of President of the United States to be 
supported at the next election ; and the undersigned were ap- 
pointed a Committee of the Convention to apprise you of this 
nomination, and respectfully to request that you will accept it. 
A declaration of the principles and sentiments adopted by the 
Convention accompanies this communication. 

" In the performance of this agreeable duty we take leave to 
add our confident assurance that the nomination of the Chicago 
Convention will be ratified by the suffrages of the people. 

" We have the honor to be, with great respect and regard, 
your friends and fellow-citizens." 

On the 23d, Mr. Lincoln addressed the following letter 
to the President of the Convention : 

" Springfield, Illinois, May 23rcl, 18G0. 
"Hon. George Ashman, President of the Republican National 
^'Convention. 
"Sir: I accept the nomination tendered me by the Conven- 
tion over which you presided, and of which I am formally ap- 
prised in the letter of yourself and others, acting as a Commit- 
tee of the Convention for that purpose. 

"The declaration of principles and sentiments, which accom- 
panies your letter, meets my approval ; and it shall be my care 
not to violate, or disregard it, in any part. 

" Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with 
due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented 
in the Convention ; to the rights of all the States and Territo- 
ries, and people of the nation ; to the inviolability of the Con- 
stitution, and the perpetual union, harmony and prosperity of 
all, I am most happy to co-operate for the practical success of 
the principles declared by the Convention, 

"Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, 

"Abraham Lincoln." 

On the sixth of November, 1860, the election for President 
took place, with the following result : Mr. Lincoln received 
491,275 over Mr. Douglas ; 1,018,499 over Mr. Brecken- 



68 LIF3 AND SEEVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

ridge, and 1,215,821 over Mr. Bell ; and tlie vote was 

subsequently proclaimed by Congress to be as follows : 

For Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois 180 

For John C. Breckeuridge, of Kentucky 72 

For John Bell, of Tennessee 39 

For Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois 12 

To describe the various movements and projects which 
were devised and consummated in the South between the 
time that Mr. Lincoln was elected and the date of his in- 
auguration, would require a much larger work than that 
which we now offer to the public, and we will therefore 
confine our account merely to those which it is unavoid- 
ably necessary to mention. The principal and most dia- 
bolical plot conceived and recommended by the traitors, 
■was to prevent the Inauguration by obtaining possession 
of the Federal Capital, or by assassinating Mr. Lincoln 
while on his way thither, or upon the day that the cere- 
monies were to take place. Whatever may have been the 
plan, or however large the reward offered to the villain 
who would accomplish the murderous deed, the object of 
their vindictiveness escaped their machinations, and still 
continues to administer the government wisely and faith- 
fully. 

LEAVES SPKINGPIELD FOR WASHINGTON — 
OVATIONS ON THE ROUTE. 

The President Elect left his home in Springfield, Illinois, 
on the eleventh of February, 1861, for Washington, having 
before leaving the depot addressed the following words 
of farewell to the thousands of his fellow- citizens who haa 
assembled at the place of departure : 

" My friends : No one not in my position can appreciate the 
Badness 1 feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I 
am. Here 1 have lived more than a quarter of a century. Here 
my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I 
know not how sooa I shall see you again. A duty devolves 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 69 

upon me which is perhaps greater than that which has devolved 
upon any other man since the days of Washint::ton. He never 
would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, 
upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed 
without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and in tho 
same Almighty Being I ])lace my reliance for sui)port ; and I 
hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that 
Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with 
which success is certain. Again, I bid you all an affectionate 
farewell." 

Along the route, multitudes assembled at the railway 
stations to greet him. At Toledo, in response to repeated 
calls, Mr. Lincoln appeared on the platform and said : 

" I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, at- 
tended, as you are aware, with considerable difficulties. Let us 
believe, as some poet has expressed it, • Behind the cloud the 
6un is shining still.' I bid you an affectionate farewell." 

He next proceeded to Indianapolis, where Mr. Lincoln 
was welcomed by the Governor of the State, and escorted 
by a procession composed of both Houses of the Legis- 
lature, the public officers, municipal authorities, military, 
and firemen. On reaching the Hotel he addressed the 
people as follows : 

"Fellow-citizens of the State of Indiana : I am here to thank 
you much for this magnificent welcome, and still more for the 
very generous support given by your State to that political 
cause, which I think is the true and just cause of the whole 
country and the whole world. Solomon says ' there is a time to 
keep silence ;' and when men wrangle by the mouth, with no 
certainty that they mean the same thing while using the same 
words, it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence. The 
words 'coercion' and 'invasion' are much used iu these days, 
and often with some temper and hot blood. Lot us make sure, if 
we can, that we do not misunderstand the meaning of those who 
use them. Let us get the exact definitions of these words, not 
from dictionaries, but from the men themselves, who certainly 
deprecate the things they would represent by the use of the 
words. What, then, is ' coercion ?' What is 'invasion ?' Would 
the marching of an army into South Carolina, without the con- 
sent of her people, and with hostile intent towards them, be in- 
vasion ? I certainly think it would, and it would be ' coercion' 
also if the South Carolinians were forced to submit. But if the 
United States should merely hold and retake its own forts and 
other property, and collect the duties on foreign importations, 



70 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLIC. 

or even withhold the mails from places -where they were habit- 
ually violated, would any or all of these things be ' invasion' or 
' coercion ?' Do our professed lovers of the Union, but who 
spitefully resolve that they will resist coercion and invasion, un- 
derstand that such things as these, on the part of the United 
States, would be coercion or invasion of a State? If so, their 
idea of means to preserve the object of their great affection 
would seem to be exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little 
pills of the homoeopathist would be much too large for it to 
swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family relation, would 
seem to bo no regular marriage, but rather a sort of ' free-love' 
arrangement, to be maintained on passional attraction. By the 
way, in what consists the special sacredness of a State ? I 
speak not of the position assigned to a State in the Union by 
the Constitution, for that is the bond we all recognize. That 
position, however, a State cannot carry out of the Union with 
it. I speak of that assumed primary right of a State to rule 
all which is less than itself, and to ruin all which is larger than 
itself. If a State and a County, in a given case, should be 
equal in extent of territory and equal in number of inhabitants, 
in what, as a matter of principle, is the State better than the 
County? Would an exchange of name be an exchange of 
rights ? Upon what principle, upon what rightful principle, may 
a State, being no more than one-fiftieth part of the nation in 
soil and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a pro- 
portionably larger subdivision of itself in the most arbitrary 
way? What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a 
district of country with its people, by merely calling it a State ? 
Fellow-citizens, I am not asserting any thing. I am merely 
asking questions for you to consider. And now allow me to bid 
you farewell." 

Proceeding to Cincinnati, he received a most enthusi- 
astic welcome. Having been addressed by the mayor of 
the city, and escorted by a civic and military procession 
to the Burnet House, he addressed the assemblage in 
these words : 

" Fellow-citizens : I have spoken but once before this in Cin- 
cinnati. That was a year previous to the late Presidential elec- 
tion. On that occasion, in a playful manner, but with sincere 
words, I addressed much of what I said to the Kentuckians. I 
gave my opinion that we, as Republicans, would ultimately beat 
them as Democrats, but that they could postpone the result 
longer by nominating Senator Douglas for the Presidency than 
they could in any other way. They did not, in any true sense 
of the word, nominate Mr. Douglas, and the result has come 
eertainly as soon as ever I expected. 



^^-.^..■^■■; ««.^\:i.v^,^ 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 71 

" I also told them how I expected they would be treated after 
they should have been beaten, and now wish to call their atten- 
tion to what I then said : 

" ' When we do, as we say we will, beat you, you perhaps 
want to know what we will do with you. I will tell you — as far 
as I am authorized to speak for the opposition — what we mean 
to do with you. We mean to treat you as near as we possibly 
can, as Wasliington, Jellerson, and Madison treated you. Wo 
mean to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere with your 
institutions; to abide by all and every compromise of the Con- 
stitution. In a word, coming back to the original proposition, 
to treat you, as far as degenerate men — if we have degenerated 
— may, according to the example of those noble fathers, Wash- 
ington, Jelferson, and Madison. We mean to remember that 
you are as good as we ; that there is no difference between ua 
othur than the difference of circumstances. We mean to recog- 
nize and bear in mind always that you have as good hearts in 
your bosoms as other people, or as we claica to have, aud to 
treat you accordingly.' 

" Fellow-citizens of Kentucky, friends, brethren : May I call 
you such ? In my new position I see no occasion and feel no 
inclination to retract a word of this. If it shall not be made 
good be assured that the fault shall not be mine.' 

In the evening he had a reception, when large crowds 
called upon him. 

On the next morning he left Cincinnati, and arrived at 
Columbus, where he was received with every demonstra- 
tion of enthusiasm. He visited the Governor in the Ex- 
ecutive Chamber, and was subsequently introduced to the 
members of the Legislature in joint session, when he was 
formally welcomed by the Lieutenant-Governor, to whom 
Mr. Lincoln responded in these words : 

" It is true, as has been said by the President of the Senate, 
that very great responsibility rests upon me in the position to 
which the votes of the American people have called me. I am 
deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I cannot but 
know, what you all know, that without a name — perhaps without 
a reason why I should have a name — there has fallen upon me a 
task such as did not rest upon the Father of his Country. And 
so feeling, I cannot but turn and look for the support without 
which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task 
I turn, then, and look to the American people, and to that God 
who has never forsaken them. 

"Allusion has been made to the interest felt in relation to the 
policy of the new Administration. In this, I have received 



72 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

from some a degree of credit for having kept silence, from 
others some depreciation. I still think I was right. In the 
varying and repeatedly shifting scenes of the present, without a 
precedent which could enable me to judge for the past, it has 
seemed fitting, that before speaking upon the difficulties of the 
country I should have gained a view of the whole field. To be 
sure, after all, I would be at liberty to modify and change the 
course of policy as future events might make a change 
necessary. 

" I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety. 
It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there 
is nothing going wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that 
when we look out there is nothing that really hurts anybody. 
We entertain different views upon political questions, but 
nobody is suffering any thing. This is a most consoling circum- 
stance, and from it I judge that all we want is time and patience, 
and a reliance on that God who has never forsaken this people." 

On the 14th of February, Mr. Lincoln proceeded to 
Pittsburgh. At Steubenville, on the route, in reply to an 
address, he said : 

" I fear the great confidence placed in my ability is un- 
founded. Indeed, I am sure it is. Encompassed by vast diffi- 
culties, as I am, nothing shall be wanted on my part, if 
sustained by the American people and God. I believe the 
devotion to the Constitution is equally great on both sides of 
the river. It is only the different understanding of that instru- 
ment that causes difficulties. The only dispute is ' What are 
their rights ?' If the majority should not rule who should be 
the judge ? Where is such a judge to be found ? We should 
all be bound by the majority of the American people — if not, 
then the minority must control. Would that be right ? Would 
it be just or generous ? Assuredly not." He reiterated, the 
majority should rule. If he adopted a wrong policy, then the 
opportunity to condemn him would occur in four years' time. 
" Then I can be turned out and a better man with Isetter view3 
put in my place." 

The next morning he left for Cleveland, but before his 

departure he made an address to the people of Pittsburgh, 

in which he said : 

" In every short address I have made to the people, and m 
every crowd through which I have passed of late, some allusion 
has been made to the present distracted condition of the coun- 
try. It is naturally expected that I should say something upon 
this subject, but to touch upon it at all would involve an 
elaborate discussion of a great many questions and circum- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LmCOLN. 73 

stances, would require more time tlian I can at present com- 
mand, and would porliaps unnecessarily commit me upon matters 
which have not yet fully developed themselves. 

'* The condition of the country, fellow-citizens, is an extra- 
ordinary one, and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety 
and solicitude. My intention is to give this subject all the con- 
sideration which I possibly can before I speak fully and 
definitely in regard to it, so that, when I do speak, 1 may 
be as nearly right as possible. And when I do speak, fellow- 
citizens, I hope to say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the 
Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which 
will in any way prove inimical to the liberties of the people or 
to the peace of the whole country. And, furthermore, when 
the time arrives for me to speak on thifgreat subject, I hope to 
say nothing which will disappoint the reasonable expectations 
of any man, or disappoint the people generally throughout the 
country, especially if their expectations have been bused upon 
any thing which I may have heretofore said. 

" Notwithstanding the troubles across the river, [the speaker, 
smiling, pointed southwardly to the Monongahela River,] there 
is really no crisis .springing from any thing in the Government 
itself. In plain words, there is really no crisis except an arti- 
ficial one. What is there now "to warrant the condition of 
affairs presented by our friends 'over the river'? Take even 
their own view of the questions involved, and there is nothing 
to justify the course which they are pursuing. I repeat it, then, 
there is no crisis, except such a one as may be gotten up at 
any time by turbulent men, aided by designing politicians. 
My advice, then, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. If 
the great American people will only keep their temper on both 
sides of the line, the trouble will come to an end, and the ques- 
tion which now distracts the country will be settled just as 
surely as all other difficulties of like character which have 
originated in this Government have been adjusted. Let the 
people on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other 
clouds h^ve cleared away in due time, so will this, and this 
great nation shall continue to prosper as heretofore." 

He then referred to the subject of the tarifif, and said : 

" According to my political education, I am inclined to be- 
lieve that the people in the various portions of the country 
should have their own views carried out through their represen- 
tatives in Congress. That consideration of the Tariff bill should 
not be postponed until the next session of the National Legisla- 
ture. No subject should engage your representatives more 
closely than that of the tariff. If 1 have any recommendation 
to make, it will be that every man who is called upon to serve 
the people, in a representative capacity, should study the whole 



74 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

subject thoroughly, as I intend to do myself, looking to all the 
varied interests of the common country, so- that, when the time 
for action arrives, adequate protection shall be extended to the 
coal and iron of Pennsylvania and the corn of Illinois. Permit 
me to express the hope that this important subject may receive 
such consideration at the hands of your representatives that the 
interests of no part of the country may be overlooked, but that 
all sections may share in the common benefits of a just and 
equitable tariff." 

Mr. Lincoln, upon his arrival in Cleveland, adverted to 
the same subject in the following terms : 

" It is with you, the people, to advance the great cause of the 
Union and the Constitution, and not with any one man. It 
rests with you alone. This fact is strongly impressed on my 
mind at present. In a community like this, wnose appearance 
testifies to their intelligence, I am convinced that the cause of 
liberty and the Union can never be in danger. Frequent allu- 
sion is made to the excitement at present existing in national 
politics. I think there is no occasion for any excitement. The 
crisis, as it is called, is altogether an artificial crisis. In all 
parts of the nation, there are differences of opinion in politics. 
There are differences of opinion even here. You did not all 
vote for the person who now addresses you. And how is it with 
those who are not here ? Have they not all their rights as they 
ever had? Do they not have their fugitive slaves returned now 
as ever ? Have they not the same Constitution that they have 
lived under for seventy odd years ? Have they not a position 
as citizens of this common country, and have we any power to 
change that position ? What, then, is the matter with them ? 
Why all this excitement? Why all these complaints ? As I 
said before, this crisis is all artificial. It has no foundation in 
fact. It was ' argued up,' as the saying is, and cannot be argued 
down. Let it alone, and it will go down itself." 

On Saturday he proceeded to Buffalo, where he arrived 
at evening, and was met by an immense concourse of citi- 
zens, headed by Ex-President Fillmore. 

Arriving at the hotel, Mr. Lincoln was welcomed in a 
brief speech by the acting chief magistrate, to which he 
made a brief reply, as follows : 

"Mr. Mayor and Felloiv- Citizens : — I am here to thank yoa 
briefly for this grand reception given to me, not personally, but 
as the representative of our great and beloved country. Your 
worthy mayor has been pleased to mention in his address to me, 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 75 

the fortunate and agreeable journey which I have had from 
home — only it is rather a circuitous route to the Federal Capi- 
tal. I am very happy that he was enabled, in truth, to congrat- 
ulate myself and company on that fact. It is true, we have 
had nothing thus far to mar the pleasure of the trip. We have 
not been met alone by those who assisted in giving the election 
to me ; I say not alone, l)ut by the whole population of the 
country through which we have passed. This is as it should be. 
Had the election fallen to any other of the distinguished candi- 
dates instead of myself, under the peculiar circumstances, to say 
the least, it would have been proper for all citizens to have 
greeted him as you now greet me. It is an evidence of the de- 
votion of the whole people to the Constitution, the Union, and 
the perpetuity of the liberties of this country. 1 am unwilling, 
on any occasion, that I should be so meanly thought of as to 
have it supposed for a moment that these demonstrations are 
tendered to me personally. 'J'hey are tendered to the country, 
to the institutions of the country, and to the perpetuity of the 
liberties of the country for which these institutions were made 
and created. Your worthy mayor has thought fit to express 
the hope that I may be able to relieve the country from the pre- 
sent, or, I should say, the threatened difficulties. I am sure I 
bring a heart true to the work. For the ability to perform it, I 
trust in that Supreme Being who has never forsaken this favored 
land, through the instrumentality of this great and intelligent 
people. Without that assistance I should surely fail ; with it 
I cannot fail. When we speak of the threatened difficulties to 
the country, it is natural that it should be expected that some- 
thing should be said by myself with regard to particular mea 
sures. Upon more mature reflection, however — and others will 
agree with me — that, when it is considered that these difficulties 
are without precedent, and never have been acted upon by any 
individual situated as I am, it is most proper I should wait and 
see the developments, and get all the light possible, so that, 
when I do speak authoritatively, I may be as near right as possi- 
ble. When I shall speak authoritatively, I hope to say nothing 
inconsistent with the Constitution, the Union, the rights of all 
the States, of each State, and of each section of the country, 
and not to disappoint the reasonable expectations of those who 
have confided to me their votes. In this connection, allow me 
to say that you, as a portion of the great American people, need 
only to maintain your composure, stand up to your sober con- 
victions of right, to your obligations to the Constitution, and 
act in accordance with those sober convictions, and the clouds 
which now arise in the horizon will be dispelled, and we shall 
have a bright and glorious future; and, when this generation 
shall have passed away, tens of thousands shall inhabit this 
country where only thousands inhabit it now. I do not propose 
to address you at length. I have do voice for it. Allow me 



76 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

again to thank you for this magnificent reception, and bid you 
farewell." 

Mr. Lincoln then proceeded from Buffalo to Albany. 
Here he was met by the Mayor, the City Councils, and 
the Legislative Committees, and was conducted to the 
Capitol, where he was welcomed by Governor Morgan, 
and responded brieiiy, as follows : 

"Governor Morgan: — I was pleased to receive an invitation 
to visit the capital of the great Empire State of this nation, 
■while on my way to the Federal capital. I now thank you, and 
you, the people of the capital of the State of New York, for 
this most hearty and magnificeut welcome. If I am not at fault, 
the great Empire State at this time contains a larger population 
than did the whole of the United States of America at the time 
they achieved their national independence ; and I was proud to 
be invited to visit its capital, to meet its citizens as I now have 
the honor to do. I am notified by your governor that this re- 
ception is tendered by citizens without distinction of party. 
Because of this, I accept it the more gladly. In this country, 
and in any country where freedom of thought is tolerated, citi- 
zens attach themselves to political parties. It is but an ordi- 
nary degree of charity to attribute this act to the supposition 
that, in thus attaching themselves to the various parties, each 
man, in his own judgment, supposes he thereby best advances 
the interests of the whole country. And when an election is 
passed, it is altogether befitting a free people that, until the 
next election, they should be one people. The reception you 
have extended me to-day is not given to me personally. It 
should not be so, but as the representative, for the time being, 
of the majority of the nation. If the election had fallen to any 
of the more distingnished citizens, who received the support of 
the people, this same honor should have greeted him that greets 
me this day, in testimony of the unanimous devotion of the whole 
people to the Constitution, the Union, and to the perpetual 
liberties of succeeding generations in this country. I have 
neither the voice nor the strength to address you at any greater 
length. I beg you will, therefore, accept my most grateful 
thanks for this manifest devotion — not to me but to the institu- 
tions of this great and glorious country." 

He was then conducted to the Legislative halls, where, 
in reply to an "address of welcome, he again adverted to 
the troubles of the country in the following terms : 

^^Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Legislature of the 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 77 

State of Neio York : — It is with feelings of great diffidence, and, 
I may say, feelings even of awe, perhaps greater than I have re- 
cently experienced, that I meet you here in this place. The 
history of this great State, the renown of its great men, who 
have stood in this chamber, and have spoken their thoughts, all 
crowd around my fancy, and incline rae to shrink from an attempt 
to address you. Yet I have some confidence given me by the 
generous manner in which you have invited me, and the still 
more generous manner in which you have received me. You 
have invited me and received me without distinction of party. 
I could not for a moment suppose that this has been done in any 
considerable degree with any reference to my personal self. It 
is very much more grateful to me that this reception and tho 
invitation preceding it were given to me as the representative 
of a free people than it could possibly have been were they but 
the evidence of devotion to me or to any one man. It is true 
that, while I hold myself, without mock-modesty, the humblest 
of all the individuals who have ever been elected President of the 
United States, I yet have a more difficult task to perform than 
any one of them has ever encountered. You have here gen- 
erously tendered me the support, the united support, of the great 
Empire State. For this, in behalf of the nation — in behalf of 
the President and of the future of the nation — in behalf of the 
cause of civil liberty in all time to come — I most gratefully 
thank you. I do not propose now to enter upon any expressions 
as to the particular line of policy to be adopted with reference 
to the difficulties that stand before us in the opening of the in- 
coming Administration. I deem that it is just to the country, 
to myself, to you, that I should see every thing, hear every 
thing, and have every light that can possibly be brought within 
my reach to aid me before I shall speak officially, in order that, 
when I do speak, I may have the best possible means of taking 
correct and true grounds. For this reason, I do not now an- 
nounce any thing in the way of policy for the new Administra- 
tion. When the time comes, according to the custom of the 
government, I shall speak, and speak as well as I am able for 
the good of the present and of the future of this country — for the 
good of the North and of the South — for the good of one and 
of the other, and of all sections of it. In the meantime, if we 
have patience, if we maintain our equanimity, though some may 
allow themselves to run off in a burst of passion, I still have con- 
fidence that the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, through the 
instrumentality of this great and intelligent people, can and will 
bring us through this difficulty, as he has heretofore brought us 
through all preceding difficulties of the country. Relying upon 
this, and again thanking you, as I forever shall, in my heart, for 
thio generous reception you have given me, I bid you farewell." 

At Albany, he was met by a delegation from the city 
autherities of Now York, and on the 19th started for that 



78 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

citj. At Poughkeepsie, he was welcomed by the Mayor 
of the city. Mr. Lincoln, in reply, said : 

" I am grateful for this cordial welcome, and I am gratified 
that this immense multitude has come together, not to meet the 
individual man, but the man who, for the time being, will humbly 
but earnestly represent the majesty of the nation-. These re- 
ceptions have been given me at other places, and, as here, by 
men of different parties, and not by one party alone. It shows 
an earnest effort on the part of all to save, not the country, for 
the country can save itself, but to save the institutions of the 
country — those institutions under which, for at least three- 
quarters of a century, we have become the greatest, the most 
intelligent, and the happiest people in the world. These mani- 
festations show that we all make common cause for these ob- 
jects ; that if some of us are successful in an election, and others 
are beaten, those who are beaten are not in favor of sinking the 
ship in consequence of defeat, but are earnest in their purpose 
to sail it safely through the voyage in hand, and, in so far as they 
may think there has been any mistake in the election, satisfying 
themselves to take their chance at setting the matter right the 
next time. That course is entirely right. 1 am not sure— I do 
not pretend to be sure — that in the selection of the individual 
who has been elected this term, the wisest choice has been made. 
I fear it has not. In the purposes and in the principles that 
have been sustained, I have been the instrument selected to 
carry forward the affairs of this Government. I can rely upon 
you, and upon the people of the country ; and with their sus- 
taining hand, I think that even I shall not fail in carrying the 
Ship of State through the storm." 

The reception of President Lincoln in New York City 
was a most imposing demonstration. Places of business 
were generally closed, and hundreds of thousands wore in 
the streets. On the next day, he was welcomed to the 
city by Mayor Wood, and replied as follows : 

"Mr. Mayor: It is with feelings of deep gratitude that I 
make my acknowledgments for the reception given me in the 
great commercial city of New York. I cannot but remember 
that this is done by a people who do not, by a majority, agree 
with me in political sentiment. It is the more grateful, because 
in this I see that, for the great principles of our Government, 
the people are almost unanimous. In regard to the difiBculties 
that confront us at this time, and of which your Honor has 
thought fit to speak so becomingly and so justly, as 1 suppose, 
I can only say that I agree in the sentiments expressed. In my 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 79 

devotion to the Union, I hope I am behind no man in the nation 
In the wisdom with which to conduct the affairs tending to the 
preservation of the Union, I fear that too great confidence may 
have been reposed in me ; but I am sure I bring a heart devoted 
to the work. Tiiere is nothing that could ever bring me to wil- 
lingly consent to the destruction of this Union, under which not 
only the great commercial city of New York, but the whole 
coantry, acquired its greatness, except it be the purpose for 
■which the Union itself was formed. I understand the ship to 
be made for the carrying and the preservation of the cargo, and 
BO long as the ship can be saved with the cargo, it should never 
be abandoned, unless it fails the possibility of its preservation, 
and shall cease to exist, except at the risk of throwing overboard 
both freight and passengers. So long, then, as it is possible that 
the prosperity and the liberties of the people be preserved in this 
Union, it shall be my purpose at all times to use all my powers 
to aid in its perpetuation. Again thanking you for the recep- 
tion given me, allow me to come to a close." 

On the next day, he left for Philadelphia. At Trenton, 
ne remained a few hours, and visited both Houses of the 
Legislature. On being received in the Senate, he thus 
addressed that body : 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate of the State of 
New Jersey : I am very grateful to you for the honorable recep- 
tion of which I have been the object. I cannot but remember 
the place that New Jersey holds in our early history. In the 
early Revolutionary struggle, few of the States among the old 
Thirteen had more of the battle-fields of the country within its 
limits than old New Jersey. May I be pardoned, if, upon this 
occasion, I mention, that away back- in my childhood, the earliest 
days of my being aljle to read, I got hold of a small book, such 
a one as few of the younger members have ever seen, ' Weems' 
Life of Washington.' I remember all the accounts there given 
of the battle-fields and struggles for the liberties of the country, 
and none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply as the 
struggle here at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of the 
river — the contest with the Hessians — the great hardships en- 
dured at that time — all fixed themselves on my memory more 
than any single revolutionary event; and you all know, for you 
have all been boys, how the.-e early impressions last longer than 
any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, 
that there must have been something more than common that 
those men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that that 
thing which they struggled for — that something even more than 
National Independence — that something that held out a great 
promise to all the people of the world to all time to come — I am 
5 



80 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the 
liberties of the people, shall be perpetuated in accordance with 
the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall 
be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the 
hands of the Almighty, and of this. His almost chosen people, 
for perpetuating the object of that great straggle. You give 
me this reception, as I understand, without distinction of party. 
I learn that this body is composed of a majority of gentlemen 
•who, in the exercise of their best judgment in the choice of a 
Chief Magistrate, did not think I was the man. I understand, 
nevertheless, thai they -came forward here to greet me as the 
constitutional President of the United States— as citizens of the 
United States, to meet the man who, for the time being, is the 
representative man of the nation, united by a purpose to per- 
petuate the Union and liberties of the people. As such, I ac- 
cept this reception more gratefully than I could do did I believe 
it was tendered to me as an individual." 

He then passed into tlie Chamber of the Assembly, and 
upon being introduced by the Speaker, addressed that 
body as follows : 

"Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen, : I have just enjoyed the honor 
of a reception by the other branch of this Legislature, and I re- 
turn to you and them my thanks for the reception which the 
people of New Jersey have given, through their chosen repre- 
sentatives, to me, as the representative, for the time being, of 
the majesty of the people of the United States. I appropriate 
to myself very little of the demonstrations of respect with which 
I have been greeted. I think little should be given to any man, 
but that it should be a manifestation of adherence to the Union 
and the Constitution. I understand myself to be received here 
by the representatives of the people of New Jersey, a majority 
of whom differ in opinion from those with whom I have acted. 
This manifestation is therefore to be regarded by me as expres- 
sing their devotion to the Union, the Constitution, and the lib- 
erties of the people. You, Mr. Speaker, have well said, that 
this is the time when the bravest and wisest look with doubt and 
awe upon the aspect presented by our national affairs. Under 
these circumstances, you will readily see why I should not speak 
in detail of the course I shall deem it best to pursue. It is 
proper that I should avail myself of all the information and all 
the time at my command, in order that whdn the time arrives in 
which I must speak officially, I shall be able to take the ground 
which I deem the best and safest, and from which I may have 
no occasion to swerve. I shall endeavor to take the ground I 
deem most just to the North, the East, the West, the South, and 
the whole country. I take it, I hope, in good temper — certaiuly 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81 

with no malice towards any section. I shall do all that may be 
in my power to promote a peaceful settlement of all our difficul- 
ties. The man does not live who is more devoted to ])eace than 
1 am — none who would do more to preserve it. But it may be 
necessary to put the foot down firmly. And if I do my duty, 
and do right, you will sustain me, will you not? Received, as I 
am, by the members of a Legislature, the majosity of whom do 
not agree with me in political sentiments, I trust that I may 
have their assistance in piloting the Ship of State through this 
voyage, surrounded by perils as it is ; for if it should suffer ship- 
wreck now, there will be no pilot ever needed for another voy- 
age." 

On bis arrival in Philadelphia, he was received with 
great enthusiasm, and the Mayor greeted him with the 
following address : 

"Sir: In behalf of the Councils of Philadelphia and of its 
citizens, who, with common respect for their chief Magistrate- 
elect, have greeted your arrival, I tender you the hospitality of 
this city. I do this as the official representative of ninety tliou- 
6and heartlis, around which dwell si.x hundred thousand people, 
firm and ardent in their devotion to the Union ; and yet it may 
not be withheld, that there are but few of these firesides whose 
cheer is not straitened and darkened by the calamitous condition 
of our country. The great mass of this people are heartily weary 
and sick of the selfish schemes and wily plots of mere politicians, 
who bear no more relation to true statesmanship than do the 
barnacles which incrust the ship to the master who stands by 
the helm. Your fellow-countrymen look to you in the earnest 
hope that true statesmanship and unalloyed patriotism may, 
with God's blessing, restore peace and prosperity to this dis- 
tracted land. It is to be regretted that your short stay pre- 
cludes that intercourse with the merchants, manufacturers, me- 
chanics, and other citizens of Philadelphia, which might afford 
you a clear discernment of their great interests. And, sir, it 
could not be other than grateful to yourself to have the oppor- 
tunity of communicating with the memories of the past, in those 
historic walls where were displayed the comprehensive intellects, 
and the liberal, disinterested virtues of our fathers, who framed 
the Constitution of the Federal States, over which you have 
been called upon to preside." 

Mr. Lincoln replied : 

" Mr. Mayor and Fdlow-citizens of Philadelphia : I appear 
before you to make no lengthy speech but to thank you for this 
reception. The reception you have given me to-night is not to 
me, the man, the individual, but to the man who temporarily 



82 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

represents, or should represent, the majesty of the nation. It is 
true, as your worthy Mayor has said, that there is anxiety among 
the citizens of the United States at this time. I deem it a happy 
circumstance that this dissatisfied portion of our fellow-citizens 
do not point us to any thino; in which they are being injured, or 
are about to be injured ; for which reason I have felt all the 
while justified in concluding that the crisis, the panic, the anxiety 
of the country at this time, is artificial. If there be those who 
differ with me upon this subject, they have not pointed out the 
substantial difficulty that exists. I do not mean to say that an 
artificial panic may not do considerable harm ; that it has done 
such I do not deny. The hope that has been expressed by your 
Mayor, that I may be able to restore peace, harmony, and pros- 
perity to the country, is most worthy of him ; and happy indeed 
will I be if I shall be able to verify and fulfil that hope. I 
promise you, in all sincerity, that I bring to the work a sincere 
heart. Whether I will bring a head equal to that heart, will be 
for future times to determine. It were useless for me to speak 
of details of plans now ; I shall speak ofiicially next Monday 
week, if ever. If I should not speak then, it were useless for 
me to do so now. If I do speak then, it is useless for me to do 
so now. When I do speak, I shall take such ground as I deem 
best calculated to restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the 
country, and tend to the perpetuity of the nation, and the liberty 
of these States and these people. Your worthy Mayor has ex- 
pressed the wish, in which I join with him, that it were con- 
venient for me to remain with your city long enough to consult 
your merchants and manufacturers ; or, as it were, to listen to 
those breathings rising within the consecrated walls wherein the 
Constitution of the United States, and, I will add, the Declara- 
tion of Independence, were originally framed and adopted. I 
assure you and your Mayor, that I had hoped on this occasion, 
and upon all occasions during my life, that I shall do nothing 
inconsistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred 
walls. I never asked any thing that does not breathe from those 
walls. All my political warfare has been in favor of the teach- 
ings that come forth from these sacred walls. May my right 
hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of 
my mouth, if ever I prove false to those teachings. Fellow-citi- 
zens, now allow me to bid you good-night." 

On the next morning, Mr. Lincoln visited the old " In- 
dependence Hall," for the purpose of raising the national 
flag over it. Here he was received with a warm welcome, 
and made the following address : 

" I am, filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing 
here, in this place, where were collected the wisdom, the patriot- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 83 

ism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions 
under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in 
my liamls is the task of restoring peace to tlie present distracted 
condition of the country. I can say in return, sir, that all the 
political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I 
have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which origi- 
nated and were given to the world from this hall. I have never 
had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments 
embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often 
pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men~who 
assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of In- 
dependence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured 
by the oflBcers and soldiers of the army who achieved that inde- 
pendence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle 
or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It 
was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from 
the mother-land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this 
country, but, I hope, to the world for all future time. It was 
that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be 
lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment em- 
bodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, 
can this country be saved upon this basis ? If it can, I will 
consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can 
help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it 
will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved with- 
out giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather 
be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. Now, in my 
view of the present aspect of affairs, thero need be no bloodshed 
or war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such 
a course, and I may say, in advance, that there will be no blood- 
shed uidess it be forced upon the government, and then it will 
be compelled to act in self-defence. 

" My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I did 
not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. 
I supposed it was merely to do something towards raising the 
flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. I have 
said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the 
pleasure of Almighty God, to die by." 

The party then proceeded to a platform erected in front 
of the State House, and Mr. Benton, of the Select Council, 
invited the President-elect to raise the flag. Mr. Lincoln 
responded in a brief speech, stating his cheerful compli- 
ance with the request, and alluded to'the original flag of 
thirteen stars, saying that the number had increased as 



84 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

time rolled on, and we became a bappj and a powerful 
people, each star adding to its prosperity. " The future," 
he added, " is in the hands of the people. It is on such an 
occasion as this that we can reason together, reaSirm our 
devotion to the country and the principles of the Declara- 
tion of Independence. Let us make up our mind, that 
when we do put a new star upon our banner, it shall be a 
fixed one, never to be dimmed by the horrors of war, but 
brightened by the contentment and prosperity of peace. 
Let us go on to extend the area of our usefulness, add 
star upon star, until their light shall shine upon five hun- 
dred millions of a free and happy people." 

The President-elect then raised the flag to the top of 
the staff. 

At half-past 9 o'clock the party left for Harrisburg. 
Both Houses of the Legislature were visited by Mr. Lin- 
coln, and to an address of welcome he thus replied : 

" I appear before you only for a very few brief remarks, in 
response to what has been said to me. I thank you most sin- 
cerely for this reception, and the generous words in which sup- 
port has been promised me upon this occasion. I thank your 
great commonwealth for the overwhelming support it recently 
gave, not to me personally, but the cause, which I think a just 
one, in the late election. Allusion has been made to the fact — 
the interesting fact, perhaps we should say — that I, for the first 
time, appear at the Capital of the great Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania upon the birthday of the Father of his Country, 
in connection with that beloved anniversary connected with the 
history of this country. I have already gone through one ex- 
ceedingly interesting scene this morning in the ceremonies at 
Philadelphia. Under the high conduct of gentlemen there, I 
was, for the first time, allowed the privilege of standing in Old 
Independence Hall, to have a few words addressed to me there, 
and opening up to me an opportunity of expressing, with much 
regret, that I had not more time to express something of my 
own feelings, excited by the occasion, somewhat to harmonize 
and give shape to the feelings that had been really the feelings 
of my whole hie. Besides this, our friends there had provided a 
magnificent flag of the country. They had arranged it so that I 
was given the honor of raising it to the head of its staff. And 
when it went up I was pleased that it went to its place by the 
strength of my own feeble arm ; when, according to the arrange- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 85 

ment, thft cord was pulled, and it flaunted gloriously to the wind 
without an accident, in the bright glowing,' sunshine of the morn- 
ing, I could not help hopiiij' that there was in the entire success 
of that beautiful ceremony at least something of an omen of 
what is to come. Nor could 1 help feeling then, as I often have 
felt, in the whole of that proceeding, I was a very humble in- 
strument. I had not provided the flag; I had not made the ar- 
rangements for elevating it to its place. I had applied but a 
very small portion of my feelTle strength in raising it. In the 
■whole transaction I was in the hands of the people who had ar- 
ranged it, and if I can have the same generous cooperation of 
the people of the nation, I think the flag of our country may yet 
be kept flaunting gloriously. I recur for a moment but to 
repeat some words uttered at the hotel in regard to what has 
been said about the military support which the General Gov- 
ernment may expect from the Commonwealth of Pennsylva- 
nia in a proper emergency. To guard against any possible 
mistake do I recur to this. It is not with any pleasure that 
I contemplate the possibility that a necessity may arise in 
this country for the use of the military arm. While 1 
am exceedingly gratified to see the manifestation upon your 
streets of your military force here, and exceedingly gratified 
at your promise here to use that force upon a proper 
emergency — while I make these acknowledgments, I desire 
to repeat, in order to preclude any possible misconstruction, 
that I do most sincerely hope that we shall have no use for 
them ; that it will never become their duty to shed blood, and 
most especially never to shed fraternal blood. I promise that, 
80 far as I may have wisdom to direct, if so painful a result 
shall in any wise be brought about, it shall be through no fault 
of mine. Allusion has also been made by one of your honored 
speakers to some remark recently made by myself at Pittsburg, 
in regard to what is supposed to be the especial interests of this 
great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I now wish only to say, 
in regard to that matter, that the few remarks which I uttered 
on that occasion were rather carefully worded. I took pains 
that they should be so. I have seen no occasion since to add to 
them or subtract from them. I leave them precisely as they 
stand, adding only now, that I am pleased to have an expres- 
sion from you, gentlemen of Pennsylvania, significant that they 
are satisfactory to you. And now, gentlemen of the General 
Assembly of the Conmonwealth of Pennsylvania, allow me to 
return you again my most sincere thanks." 

PLOT TO ASSASSINATE HIM— HOW IT WAS 
THWARTED. 

Arrangements had been made for his departure from 



\ 

86 LIFE ANZl SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

Harrisburg on the following morning, but the discovery 
of a plot to assassinate him as he passed through Balti- 
more — a plot iu which some of the principal residents of 
that city were interested, although their projects were to 
be accomplished by means of paid emissaries — caused a 
change in the schedule, and on the evening of the day that 
he had been received by the Legislature, he left in a 
special train for Philadelphia, and from thence proceeded 
in the sleeping-car attached to the regular midnight train 
to Washington, where he arrived at an early hour on the 
morning of the twenty-third. 

The sudden departure of Mr. Lincoln from the Penn- 
sylvania State Capital naturally astonished the people of 
the country ; and while the loyal citizens exulted in the 
fact that he was safe in Washington, the traitors and their 
sympathizers were greatly exasperated at the failure of 
their nefarious designs, and pronouncing the movement 
an act of cowardice, solemnly declared that he should 
never be inaugurated. 

IS WELCOMED TO WASHINGTON BY THE 
AUTHORITIES. 

A few days after his arrival he was waited upon by the 
Mayor and other municipal authorities, who welcomed 
him to the city, and to whom he made the following 
reply : 

"Mr. Mayor : I thank you, and through you the municipal 
authorities of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. 
And as it is the first time in my life since the present phase of 
politics has presented itself in this country, that I have said 
any thing publicly withia a region of country where the institu- 
tion of slavery exists, I will take this occasion to say that I 
think very much of the ill-feeling that has existed, and still ex- 
ists, between the people in the sections from whence I came 
and the people here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of 
one another. I therefore avail myself of this opportunity to 
assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentleman present, that I 
have Dot now, and never have bad, any other than as kindly 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 87 

feelinpfs towards you as the people of my own section. I havo 
not now, and never have had, any disposition to treat you in any 
respect otherwise than as my own neighbors. I have not now 
any purpose to withhold from you any of the benefits of the 
Constitution, under any circumstances, that I would not feel 
myself constrained to withhold from my neighbors ; and I hope, 
in a word, that, when we shall become better acquainted, and 1 
say it with great confidence, we shall like each other the more. 1 
thank you lor the kindness of this reception." 

ADDRESSES THE REPUBLICAN ASSOCIATION. 

On the following evening the Republican Associatioa 
tendered him a delightful serenade, at the conclusion of 
which he made the following remarks to the assembled 
orowd : 

"My friends : I suppose that I may take this as a compli- 
ment paid to me, and as such please accept my thanks for it. 
I have reached this city of Washington under circumstances 
considerably differing from those under which any other man 
has ever reached it. I am here for the purpose ^f taking an 
officitil position amongst the people, almost all of whom wero 
politically opposed to me, and are yet opposed to me as I 
suppose. I propose uo lengthy address to you. I only propose 
to say, as I did on yesterday, when your worthy Mayor and 
Board of Aldermen called upon me, that I thought much of the 
ill-feeling that has existed between you and the people of your 
surroundings and that people from amongst whom I came, has 
depended, and now depends, upon a misunderstanding. 

" I hope that, if things shall go along as prosperously as I 
believe we all desire they may, I may have it in my power to re- 
move something of this misunderstanding; that I may be 
enabled to convince you, and the people of your section of the 
country, that we regard you as in all things our equals, and in 
all things entitled to the same respect and the same treatment 
that we claim for ourselves ; that we are in nowise disposed, if 
it were in our power, to oppress you, to deprive you of any of 
your rights under the Constitution of the United Slates, or even 
narrowly to split hairs with you in regard to those rights, but 
are determined to give you, as far as lies in our bands, all your 
rights under the Constitution — not grudgingly, but fully and 
fairly. I hope that, by thus dealing with you, we will become 
better acquainted, and be better friends. And now, my friends, 
with these few remarks, and again returning my thanks for this 
compliment, and expressing my desire to hear a little more of 
your good ausic, I bid you good-eight." 



88 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

IS INAUGURATED PRESIDENT OP THE 
UNITED STATES. 

On the fourth of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was 
inaugurated the Sixteenth President of the United States, 
the ceremonies incident to the event being of the most 
imposing description. A large number of troops partici- 
pated in the procession, and every arrangement was made 
to frustrate any movement the Secessionists or their 
friends might make to prevent the choice of a majority of 
the voters of the nation from taking the oath of office. 
From a platform erected in the usual position on the east 
front of the capitol, and in the presence of not less than 
ten thousand persons, Mr. Linooln delivered the following 
Inaugural Address : 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ARRAHAM LINCOLN. 

''Fellow-citizens of the United States : 

"In compliance with a custom as old as the Government it- 
self, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in 
your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the 
United States to be taken by the President, before he enters on 
the execution of his office. 

" 1 do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss 
those matters of administration about which there is no special 
anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the 
people of the Southern States, that, by the accession of a Re- 
publican Administration, their property and their pea^ce and 
personal security are to be endangered. There has never beea 
any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the roost 
ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and 
been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the pub- 
lished speeches of him who now addresses you. 1 do but quote 
from one of those speeches, when I declare that ' 1 have no pur- 
pose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of 
slavery in the States where it exists.' I believe I have no law- 
ful right to do so ; and I have no inclination to do so. Those 
who noiTiinated and elected me, did so with the full knowledge 
that I had made this, and made many similar declarations, and 
had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed iu 
the platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and 
to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read : 

" 'Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 

the States, and especially the rigfbt of each State to order and 
control its own domestic institutions according to its own judg- 
ment exclusively, is essential to that balance ol' power ou \Vhich 
the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend ; and 
wc denouncf the lawless invasion by armed force of tlie soil of 
any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among 
the gravest of crimes.' 

"I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing sol only 
press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of 
which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and se- 
curity of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now 
incoming Administration. 

" 1 adil, too, that all the protection which, consistently with 
the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully 
given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever 
cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another. 

" There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugi- 
tives from service or labor. The clause 1 now road is as plainly 
written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions : 

'•'No person held to service or labor in one State under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in> consequence of any 
law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or 
labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
such service or labor may be due.' 

" It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by 
those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive 
slaves ; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. 

"All members of Congress swear their support to the whole 
Constitution — to this provision as well as any other. To the 
proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms 
of this clause 'shall be delivered up,' their oaths are unanimous. 
Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they 
not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means 
of which to keep good that unanimous oath? 

" There is some difference of opinion whether this clause 
should be enforced by national or by State authority; but 
surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave 
is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him 
or to others by which authority it is done; and should any one, 
in any case, be content that this oath shall go unkept on a 
merely un substantial controversy as to how it shall be kept? 

'"Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safe- 
guards of liberty known in the civilized and humane jurisprudence 
to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case. 3nrren- 
dered as a slave? And might it not ho well at the same time to 
provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Consti- 
tution, which guarantees that ' the citizens of each State shall be 
entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in tho 
several States?' 



90 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLIf. 

" I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, 
and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by 
any hypercritical rules ; and while I do not choose now to 
specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I 
do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and 
private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which 
stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to lind 
impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional. 

"It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a 
President under our national Constitution. During that period 
fifteen different and very distinguished citizens have in succes- 
sion administered the executive branch of the government. 
They have conducted it through many perils, and generally 
with great success. Yet, with all this scope for precedent, I 
now enter upon the same task, for the brief constitutional term 
of four years, under great and peculiar difficulties. 

"A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, 
is now formidably attempted. I hold that in the contemplation 
of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these 
States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in 
the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe 
to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its 
organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all 
the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the 
Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it ex- 
cept by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. 

"Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but 
an association of States in the nature of a contract merely, caa 
it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties 
who made it? One party to a contract may violate it — break it, 
so to speak; but does it not require ail to lawfully rescind it? 
Descending from these general principles, we find the proposi- 
tion that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual, con- 
firmed by the history of the Union itself. 

" The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was 
formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was 
matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 
1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then 
thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be 
perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation, in 1778; and, 
finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and 
establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect 
Union. But if the destruction of the Union by one or by a 
part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less 
than before, the Constitution having lost the vital element of 
perpetuity. 

" It follows from these Views that no State, upon its own me^e 
motion, can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and 
ordinances to that effect are legally void ; and that acts of vio 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 91 

lence within any State or States against the authority of the 
United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to 
circumstances. 

"I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and 
the laws, the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of my 
ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly 
enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faitlifuUy 
executed in all the States. Doing this, which I deem to be only 
a simple duty on my part, I shall perfectly perform it, so far as 
is practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, 
shall withhold the requisition, or, in some authoritative manner, 
direct the contrary. 

" I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the 
declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend 
and maintain itself. 

"In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, and 
there shall be none unless it is forced upon the national au- 
thority. 

" The power confided to me will he used to hold, occupy, and 
possess the property and places belonging to the government, and 
collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what may be neces- 
sary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force 
against or among the people anywhere. 

"Where hostility to the United States shall be so great and 
so universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding 
the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious 
strangers among the people that object. While strict legal right 
may exist of the government to enforce the exercise of these 
offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so 
nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for 
the time the us-es of such offices. 

"The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished to 
all parts of the Union. 

" So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that 
sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought 
and reflection. 

" 'J'he course here indicated will be followed, unless current 
events and experience shall show a modification or change to be 
proper; and in every case and exigency my best discretion will 
be exercised according to the circumstances actually existing, 
and with a view and hope of a peaceful solution of the national 
troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and af- 
fections. 

" That there are persons, in one section or another, who seek 
to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext 
to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny. But if there be such, I 
need address no word to them. 

" To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not 
fipeak, before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruc- 



92 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

tion of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, 
and its hopes? Would it not be well to ascertain why we do 
it? Will you hazard so desperate a step, while any portion of 
the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while 
the certain ills you fly to, are greater than all the real ones you 
fly from ? Will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake? 
All profess to be conteat in the Union if all constitutional rights 
can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly writ- 
ten in the Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Hap- 
pily the human mind is so constituted, that no party can reach 
to the audacity of doing this. 

" Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly- 
written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by 
the mere force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority 
of any clearly-written constitutional right, it might, in a moral 
point of view, justify revolution ; it certainly would, if such right 
were a vital one. But such is not our case. 

"All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so 
plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guar- 
antees and prohibitions in the Constitution, that controversies 
never rise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be 
framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question 
which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can 
anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, ex- 
press provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from 
labor be surrendered by national or by State authorities? The 
Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect 
slavery in the territories? The Constitution does not expressly 
say. From questions of this class spring all our constitutional 
controversies, and we divide upon thein into majorities and 
minorities. 

" If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the 
government must cease. There is no alternative for continuing 
the government but acquiescence on the one side or the other. If 
a minority in such a case will secede rather than acquiesce, they 
make a precedent which in turn will ruin and divide them, for a 
minority of their own will secede from them whenever a ma- 
jority refuses to be controlled by such a minority. For instance, 
why not any portion of a new confederacy, a year or two hence, 
arbitarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present 
Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish dismiioa 
sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing 
this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the 
States to compose a new Union as to produce harmony only, 
and prevent renewed secession? Plainly, the central idea of 
secession is the essence of anarchy. 

"A majority held in restraint by constitutional check and 
limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes 
of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 93 

a free people. Whoever reject it, iloos, of necessity, fly to an- 
archy or to despotism. Unaniraily is impossible; the rule of a 
majority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissiltle. 
So that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism 
in some form is all that is left. 

" I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitn- 
tional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do 
I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the 
parties to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are also 
entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel 
cases by all other departments of the government : and while it 
is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any 
given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that 
particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and 
never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne 
than could the evils of a different practice. 

"At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that, if the 
policy of the government upon the vital questions alTecting the 
whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the decisions of the 
Supreme Court, the instant they are made, as in ordinary litiga- 
tion between parties in personal actions, the people will have 
ceased to be their own masters, unless having to that extent 
practically resigned their government into the hands of that 
eminent tribunal. 

" Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the 
judges. It is a duty from which they may n()t shrink, to decide 
cases properly brought before them ; and it is no fault of theirs 
if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One 
section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to be 
extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to 
be extended ; and this is the only substantial dispute ; and the 
fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, and tlie law for the 
suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, 
perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral 
sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The 
great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in 
both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot 
be perfectly cured, and it would be worse, in both cases, after 
the separation of the sections, than before. The foreign slave- 
trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, 
without restriction, in one section ; while fugitive slaves, now 
only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at aU by 
the other. 

" Physically speaking, we cannot separate — we cannot remove 
our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable 
wall between them. A husband and w.fe may be divorced, and 
go out of the presence and beyond the reacli of the other, but 
the different parts of our country cannot do that. They cannot 
but remain lace to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or 



94 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to 
maiie that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory 
after separation than before ? Can aliens make treaties easier 
than friends can make laws ? Can treaties be more faithfully 
enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose 
you go to war, you cannot tight always ; and when, after much 
loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the 
identical questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon 
you. 

" This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who 
inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing 
government, they can exercise their constitutional right of 
amending, or their revolutionary right to dismember or over- 
throw it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy 
and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Con- 
stitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amend- 
ment, I fully recognize the full authority of the people over 
the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes pre- 
scribed in the instrument itself, and I should, under existing 
circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity 
being afforded the people to act upon it, 

" 1 will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems 
preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the 
])eople themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or 
reject propositions originated by others not especially chosen for 
the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they 
would wish either to accept or refuse. I understand that a pro- 
posed amendment to the Constitution (which amendment, how- 
ever, I have not seen) has passed Congress, to the effect that 
the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic 
institutions of States, including that of persons held to service. 
To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my 
purpose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say 
that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional 
law, I have no objections to its being made express and irrevo- 
cable. 

"The chief magistrate derives all his authority from the peo- 
ple, and they have conferred none upon him to fix the terms for 
the separation of the States. The people themselves, also, can 
do this if they choose, but the Executive, as such, has nothing 
to do with it. His duty is to administer the present government 
as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, 
to his successor. Why should there not be a patient confidence 
in the ultimate justice of the people ? Is there any better or 
equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either 
party without faith of being in the right ? If the Almighty 
Ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your 
side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that 
justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal, 



LIFE AND SEUVICliS OB" ABRAHAM LIXCOLN". 9.5 

the American people. By tVie frame of the government under 
which we live, this same poople liave wisely given their public 
servants but little power for mischief, and have, with eqnal wis- 
dom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at 
very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and 
vigilance, no administration, by any extreme wickedness or 
foHy, can very seriously injure the governuieiit in the short space 
of fdur years. 

'• My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon 
this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking 
time. 

" If there be an object to hurry any of yon, in hot haste, to 
a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will 
be frustrated by taking time ; but no good object can be frus- 
trated by it. 

" Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Con- 
stitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, thi^ laws of your 
own framing under it ; while the new administration will have 
no immediate power, if it would, to cliange either. 

"If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the 
right side in the dispute, there is still no single reason for pre- 
cipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a 
firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored 
laud, are still competent to adjust, iu the best way, all our 
present difiiculties. 

" In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in 
mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government 
will not assail you. 

" You can have no conflict without being yourselves the ag- 
gressors. You have no oath registered iu heaven to destroy 
the government; while I shall have the most solemn one to 
' preserve, protect, and defend it.' 

"I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We 
must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it 
must not break our bonds of aflection. 

'■ The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battle- 
field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all 
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, 
when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels 
of our nature." 

Chief Justice Taney then administered the oath of 
office, and President Lincoln left the Capitol for tlio 
White House, where he held a public reception. 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INTERVIEW V/ITH 
THE VIRGINIA COMMISSIONERS, 

On the 13th of April, 1861, Messrs. Preston Sluavt and 
6 



96 LIFE AND SERVICES oF ABRAHAM LINCOL:^'. 

Randolph, a committee appointed by the Virginia Con- 
vention, were formally received by the President, and pre- 
sented the resolutions under which they were appointed. 
In response, Mr. Lincoln made the following address : 

" Gentlemen : As a committee of the Yirginia Convention, 
now in session, you present me a preamble and resolution iu 
these words : 

"' Whereas, iw the opinion of this Convention, the uncertainty 
which prevails iu the public mind as to the policy which the 
Federal Executive intends to pursue towards the seceded States 
is extremely injurious to the industrial and commercial interests 
of the country, tends to keep up an excitement which is un- 
favorable to the adjustment of the pending difficulties, and 
threatens a disturbance of the public peace ; therefore, 

" 'JResoIved, That a committee of three delegates be appointed 
to wait on the President of the United States, present to him 
this preamble, and respectfully ask him to communicate to this 
Convention the policy which the Federal p]xecutive intends to 
pursue in regard to the Confederate States.' 

" In answer I have to say, that having, at the beginning of 
my official term, expressed my intended policy as plainly as I 
was able, it is with deep regret and mortification I now learn there 
is great and injurious uncertainty in the public mind as to what 
that policy is, and what course I intend to pursue. Not having 
as yet seen occasion to change, it is now my purpose to pursue 
the course marked out in the inaugural address. I commend a 
careful consideration of the whole document as the best ex- 
pression I can give to my purposes. As I then and therein said, 
I now repeat, ' The power confided in me will be used to hold, 
occupy, and possess property and places belonging to the Gov- 
ernment, and to collect the duties and imports ; bat beyond 
what is necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no 
using of force against or among the people anywhere.' By the 
words ' property and places belonging to the Government,' I 
chiefly allude to the military posts and property which were in 
possession of the government Avhen it came into my hands. 
But if as now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to 
drive the United States authority from these places, an unpro- 
voked assault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold 
myself at liberty to repossess it, if I can, like places which had 
been seized before the Government was devolved upon me, and 
in any event I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by 
force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been 
assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the United 
States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to 
have seceded, believing that the commencement of actual war 
against the Government justifies and possibly demands it. I 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LIN'COLX, 97 

pcarcely heed to say that I consider the military posts and 
property situated within the States which claim to have seceded, 
as yet belonging to the (Government of the United States as 
much as they did before the supposed secession. "Whatever 
else I may do for the purpose, I shall not attempt to collect the 
duties and imposts by any armed invasion of any part of the 
country; not meaning by this, however, that I may not land a 
force deemed necessary to relieve a fort upon the border of tlia 
country. From the fact that I have quoted a part of the 
inaugural address, it must not be inferred that I repudiate any 
other part, the whole of which I reaffirm, except so far as what I 
now say of the mails may be regarded as a modification." 

Two days later the following proclamation was issued : 

THE FIRST CALIi FOR TROOPS.— CONGRESS 
SUMMONED TO ASSEMBLE. 

" Whereas, The laws of the United States have been for some 
time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof ob- 
structed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by coml)inations too 
powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial pro- 
ceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law ; now, 
therefore, I, Abraifam Lincoln, President of the United States, 
in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the 
laws, have thought lit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the 
militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate num- 
ber of 75.000, in order to suppress said combinations and to 
cause the laws to be duly executed. 

" The details for this object will be immediately communicated 
to the State authorities through the War Department. I ap- 
peal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort 
to maintain the honor, the integrity, and existence of our na- 
tional Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to 
redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper 
to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called 
forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property 
which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event ths 
utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects afore- 
said, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference 
with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any 
part of the country; and I hereby command the persons com- 
posing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peace- 
ably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from thi9 
date. 

" Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents 
an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power 
in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Con- 



98 LIFE AKD SKHVICES OF ABKAHA.M LINCOLN". 

gress. The Senators and Representatives are, therefore, sum- 
moned to assemble at their respective chambers at twelve o'clock, 
noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there 
to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the 
public safety and interest may seem to demand. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
" Pone at the City of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, io 
the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
one, and of the independence of the United States the eighy- 
fifth. 

" By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 

" William H. Seward, Secretary of Slate." 

Within three days after the appeal had been made to 
the patriots of the North, six hundred of their number 
had arrived in "Washington, prepared for active duty and 
ready to sacrifice their lives in defence of the capital. The 
avenues to the city of "Washington were guarded night 
and day, and cannon were placed in position. The excite- 
ment was intense, but amid all the various apprehensions 
of the residents and the country, he, who really should 
have been more especially anxious and fearful, was always 
calm and collected. The murderous outbreak in Balti- 
more on the nineteenth only increased the excitement, but, 
as if indifferent to the scenes which were in progress im- 
mediately around him, the President issued the following 
Proclamation, ordering a blockade of the Southern ports : 

A BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS ORDERED. 

" Whe7-eas, An insurrection against the Government of the 
United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, 
and the laws of the United States for the collection of the 
revenue cannot be efficiently executed therein conformably to 
that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be 
uniform throughout the United States. 

'•A7id ivhereas, A combination of persons, engaged in such 
insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of 
marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults oa 
the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country 
lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters 
of the United States. 



LIFE AND SERVICES Ot' ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 99 

" And whereas, Au Executive Proclamation has been already 
issued, requiriiie^ the persons cntraped in tiicse disorderly pro- 
ceedinj^s to desist therefrom, calling- out a militia force for the 
purpose of repressini? the same, and convening Congress in ex- 
traordinary session to deliberate and determine thereon; 

"Now, therefore. I, Abraham Lrxcoi-N, President of th3 
United States, with a view to the same purpose before men- 
tioned, and to the protection of the public peace, and the 
lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing theii 
lawful occupations, until Congress shall have asseml)lcd and de- 
liberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same 
sliall have ceaseil, have further deemed it advisable to set on 
foot a blockade of tjie ports within the States aforesaid, in pur- 
suance of the laws of the United States and of the laws of nations 
in such cases provided. For this purpose a competent force will 
be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the 
ports aforesaid. If, therefore, witli a view to violate such block- 
ade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave any of the 
said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of 
the blockading vessels, who will indorse on her register'the fact 
and date of such warning; and if the same vessel shall again 
attenipt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be cap- 
tured and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceed- 
ings against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed ad- 
visable. 

"And I hereby proclaim and declare, that if any person, un- 
der the pretended authority of said States, or under any other 
pretence, shall molest a vessel of the United States^ or the 
persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held 
amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention 
and punishment of piracy. 

" By the President : "Abraham Lixcoiav. 

" WiLMAM H. Seward, Secretary/ of State. 
" Washington, April 19//i, 1861." 

THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION' WITH 
THE MARYLAND AUTHORITIES. 

Ou the twentieth of April, the President sent the follow- 
injT letter to the Governor of Maryland and also to the 
Mayor of Baltimore : 

" Washi.vgton, April 20th, 1861. 
" Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown : 

"Gentlemen: — Your letter by Messrs. 'Bond, Dobbin, and 
Brune, is received. I tender ymi both my sincere thanks for 
your eflbrts to keep the peace in the trying situation in which 
you are placed. For the future, troops imist be brought here, 
but T make no point of bringing them through Baltiniore. 



100 tIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. 

" Without any military knowledge myself, of course I must 
leave details to General Scott. He hastily said this morning, 
in presence of those gentlemen, ' March them around Baltimore, 
and not through it.' 

"I sincerely hope the general, on fuller reflection, will con- 
sider this practical and proper, and that you will not object to 
it. By this a collision of the people of Baltimore with the 
troops will be avoided, unless they go out of the way to seek it. 
I hope you will exert your influence to prevent this. Now and 
ever, I shall do all in my power for peace, consistently with the 
maintenance of government 

" Your obedient servant, 

"A. Lincoln." 

And on the twenty- first, he sent a despatch to Mayor 
Brown, requesting hira to proceed immediately to Wash- 
ington, a request that was obeyed, and upon arriving at 
the White House the invited guest was admitted to an 
interview with the Cabinet and General Scott. The Presi- 
dent informed the Mayor, and three of the citizens of Bal- 
timore who had accompanied him, that he recognized the 
good faith of the City and State authorities, but should 
insist upon a recognition of his own. 

He admitted the excited state of feeling in Baltimore, 
and his desire and duty to avoid the fatal consequences 
of a collision with the people. He urged, on the other 
hand, the absolute, irresistible necessity of having a tran- 
sit through the State for such troops as might be neces- 
sary for the protection of the Federal capital. The pro- 
tection of Washington, he asseverated with great earnest- 
ness, was the sole object of concentrating troops there ; 
and he protested that none of the troops brought through 
Maryland were intended for any purposes hostile to the 
State, or aggressive as against the Southern States. Being 
now unable to bring them up the Potomac in secciiiy, the 
Government must either bring them through Maryland or 
abandon the capital. 

He called on General Scott for his opinion, which the 
General gave at length, to the eflect that troops might be 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 101 

brought through Maryland, without going through Balti- 
more, by either carrying them from Perry ville to Annapo- 
lis, and thence by rail to Washington, or by bringing them 
to the Relay House on the Northern Central railroad, and 
marching them to the Relay House on the Washington 
railroad, and thence by rail to the capital. If the people 
would permit them to go by either of these routes uninter- 
ruptedly, the necessity of their passing through Baltimore 
would be avoided. If the people would not permit them 
a transit thus remote from the city, they must select their 
own best route, and, if need be, iight their way through 
Baltimore, a result which the General earnestly depre- 
cated. 

The President expressed his hearty concurrence in the 
desire to avoid a collision, and said that no more troops 
should be ordered through Baltimore if they were per- 
mitted to go uninterrupted by either of the other routes 
Buggested. In this disposition the "Secretary of War ex- 
pressed his participation. 

About this same date a deputation of sympathizers 
visited the President, and demanded a cessation of hostili- 
ties until the convening of Congress, accompanying the 
demand with the assertion that seventy-five thousand 
Marylanders would contest the passage of troops over 
their soil. Mr. Lincoln, in refusing to accede to the truce, 
quietly replied that he presumed there was room enough 
on her soil to bury seventy-five thousand men. 

BLOCKADING OF VIRGIJN-IA AND NORTH 
CAROLINA. 

On the twenty-seventh of April, the following additional 
proclamation, extending the blockade, was issued : 

"TFTiereas, For the reasons assigned in my proclamation of 
ttie 19t!i instant, a blockade of tlie ports of tlie States of South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana. Mississippi, 
and Texas, was ordered to bo established ; And whereas, Since 



102 LIFE A>;0 SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

that date public property of the United States has been seized, 
the collection of the revenue obstructed, and duly commissioned 
ofiBcers of the United States, while engaged in executing the 
orders of their superiors, have been arrested and held in custody 
as prisoners, or have been impeded in the discharge of their 
official duties, without due legal process, by persons claiming to 
act under authority of the States of Virginia and North Caro- 
lina, an efficient blockade of the ports of these States will there- 
fore also be established. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, aud caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
" Done at the City of Washington, this 27th day of April, in the 

year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, 

and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- 

tifth. 

"By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 

"William H. Skwaiid, Secretary of State." 

Although the first call for troops had been responded to 
in the most gratifying- manner by the outraged citizens of 
the free States, it was early ascertained that the number 
asked was totally insufficient for the existing exigencies, 
and on the third of May the following proclamation was 
issued : 

A CALL FOR ADDITIONAL TROOPS. 

" Washtnoton, Friday, Hay 'Sd, 1861. 
"Whereas, Existing exigencies demand immediate and ade- 
quate measures for the protection of the national Constitution 
and the preservation of the national Union by the suppression 
of the insurrectionary combinations now existing in several 
States for opposing the laws of the Union and obstructing the 
execution thereof, to which end a military force, in addition to' 
that called forth by my Proclamation of the fifteenth day of 
April, in the present year, appears to' be indispensably neces- 
sary, now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
thereof, and of the militia of the several States, when called into 
actual service, do hereby call into the service of the United 
States forty-two thousand and thirty-four volunteers, to serve 
for a period of three years, unless sooner discharged, and tc be 
mustered into service as infantry and cavalry. The proportions 
of each arm and the details of enrolment and organization will 
be made known through the Department cf War; and I also 
direct that the regular army of the United States be increased 
by the addition of eight regiments of infantry, one regiment ot 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLX, 103 

cavalry, and one refriment of artillery, makinjr altogether a 
maximum asTgregate increase of 22,714 officers and enlisted men, 
the details of wbicli increase will also be made known tliron^h 
the Department of War; and I further direct the enlistment, 
for not less than one nor more than three years, of 18,000 sea- 
men, in addition to the present force, for the naval service cf 
the United States. The details of the enlistment and organiza- 
tion will be made known through the Department of the Navy. 
The call for volunteers, hereby made, and the direction of the 
increase of the regular army, and for the enlistment of seamen 
hereby given, together with the plan of organization adopted for 
the volunteers and for the regular forces hereby authorized, will 
be submitted to Congress as soon as assembled. 

" In the meantime, I earnestly invoke the co-operation of all 
good citizens in the measures hereby adopted for the effectual 
suppression of unlawful violence, for the impartial enforcement 
of constitutional laws, and for the speediest possible restoration 
of peace and order, and with those of happiness and prosperity 
throughout our country. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
"Done at the City of Washington, this third day of May, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, 
and cf the Independence of the United States the eighty- 
fifth. 

" By the President : "Abraham Lincolx. 

" William H. Skward, Secretary of Slate." 

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MARYLAND 
LEGISLATURE. 

On the following day, the President had an interview 
with a Committee of the Maryland Legislature, who ad- 
mitted the right of the Government to transport troops 
through Baltimore or Maryland, but expressed their belief 
that no immediate efforts would be made by the State au- 
thorities at secession or resistance, and asked that the 
State might be spared military occupation, or a mere re- 
vengeful chastisement for former transgressions. The 
President, in reply, promised to give their suggestions a 
respectful consideration, and stated that whatever meas- 
ures might be adopted, wcyald be actuated entirely by the 
public interests and not by any spirit of revenge. 



104: LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

A SPECIAL ORDER FOR FLORIDA. 

Oa the tenth of May, 1861, the following proclamation 
was promulgated : 

"Whereas, An insurrection exists in the State of Florida, by 
■which the lives, liberty, and property of loyal citizens of the 
United States are endangered. 

''And whereas, It is deemed proper that all needful measures 
should be taken for the protection of such citizens and all officers 
of the United States in the discharge of their public duties i*:i 
the State aforesaid. 

" Now, therefore, be it known thftt I, Abraham Lincoln, 
President of the United States, do hereby direct the Com- 
mander of the forces of the United States on the Florida coast 
to permit no person to exercise any ofBce or authority upon the 
Islands of Key West, the Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, which 
may be inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the 
United States, authorizing him at the same time, if he shall 
find it necessary, to suspend there the writ of habeas corpus, 
and to remove from the vicinity of the United States fortresses 
all dangerous or suspected persons. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
" Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of May, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, 
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- 
fifth. 

"By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 

" William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State." 

PRESIDE]N"T LINCOLN'S FIRST MESSAGE TO 
CONGRESS. 

On the fourth of July, 18G1, Congress assembled, in 
pursuance to the call of the President, and received from 
the Executive the following Message : 

" Frllow-Cittzexs of the Senate and House of Represen- 
tatives: — Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, 
as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called 
to any ordinary subject of legislation. At the beginning of the 
present Presidential term, four months ago, the functions of the 
Federal Government were found to be generally suspended 
within the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, excepting only those of the 
Post-Office Department. 



LIFE 'and services OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 105 

" Within these States all the Forts, Arsenals, Dock-Yards, 
Cnstom-llouses, and the like, including the movable and station- 
ary i)roi)erty in and about them, had been seized, and were held 
in open hostility to this Government, excepting only Forts 
Pickens, Taylor, and Jetlerson, on and near the Florida coast, 
and Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. South Carolina. The 
forts thus seized hud been put in improved condition, new ones 
had been built, and armed forces had been organized, and were 
organizing, all avowedly for the same hostile purpose. 

"The forts remaining in possession of the Federal Govern- 
ment in and near these States were either besieged or menaced 
by warlike preparations, and especially Fort Sumter was nearly 
surrounded by well-protected hostile batteries, with guns equal 
in quality to the best of its own, and outnumbering the latter as, 
perhaps, ten to one — a disproportionate share of the Federal 
muskets and rifles had somehow found their way into these 
States, and had been seized to be used against the Government. 

"Accumulations of the public revenue lying within them had 
been seized for the same object. The navy was scattered iu 
distant seas, leaving but a very small part of it within the imme- 
diate reach of the Government. 

" Oflicers of the Federal army had resigned in great numbers, 
And of those resigning a large proportion had taken up arms 
Against the Government. 

" Simultaneously, and in connection with all this, the purpose 
to sever the Federal Union was openly avowed. In accordance 
with this purpose an ordinance had been adopted in each of these 
States, declaring the States respectively to be separated from 
the National Union. A formula for instituting a combined 
Government of these States had been promulgated, and this 
illegal organization^ in the character of the ' Confederate States,' 
was already invoking recognition, aid, and intervention from 
foreign Powers. 

"Finding this condition of things, and believing it to be an 
imperative duty upon the incoming Executive to prevent, if pos- 
sible, the consummation of such attempt to destroy the Federal 
Uniou, a choice of means to that end became indispensable. 
'I'his choice was made and was declared iu the Inaugural 
Address. 

"The policy chosen looked to the exhaustion of all peaceful 
measures before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought only 
to hold the public places and property not already wrested from 
the Government, and to collect the revenue, relying for the rest 
on time, discussion, and the ballot-box. It promised a contin- 
nance of the mails, at Government expense, to the very people 
who were resisting the Government, and it gave repeated pledges 
against any disturbances to any of the people, or any of their 
rights, of all that which a President might constitutionally and 
.i'lstifiably do in such a case ; every thing was forborne, without 
Which it was believed possible to keep the Government on {ov[ 



\ 



106 LIFE AN-D SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

"On the r)th of March, the present incnmbent's first full day 
in office, a letter from Major Anderson, commanding' at Fort 
Sumter, written on the 2Slh of February and received at the 
War Department on the 4th of March, was by that Department 
placed in his hands. This letter expressed the professional 
opinion of the writer, that reinforcements could not be thrown 
into that fort within the time for its relief rendered necepsary by 
the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding pos- 
session of the same, with a force less than 20,000 good and well- 
disciplined men. This opinion was concurred in by all the 
officers of his command, and their memoranda o'l the subject 
were made inclosures of Major Anderson's letter. The whole 
was immediately laid before Lieutenant-General Scott, who at 
once concurred with Major Anderson in his opinion. On re- 
flection, however, he took full time, consulting with other officers 
both of the army and navy, and at the end of four days came 
reluctantly but decidedly to the same conclusion as before. He 
also stated at the same time that no such sufficient force was 
then at the control Of the Government, or could be raised aud 
brought to the groi^^nd, within the time when the provisions in 
the fort would be exhausted. In a purely military point of view, 
this reduced the duty of the Administration in the case to the 
mere matter of getting the garrison safely out of the fort. 

" It was believed, however, that to so abandon that position, 
under the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous; that the 
necessity under which it was to be done would not be fully un- 
derstood ; that by many it would be construed as a part of a 
voluntary policy; that at home it would discourage the friends 
of the Union, embolden its adversaries, aud go far to insure to 
the latter a recognition abroad ; that, in fact, it would be our 
national destruction consummated. This could not be allowed. 
Starvation was not yet upon the garrison, and ere it would be 
reached. Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would 
be a clear indication of policy, and would better enable the 
country to accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military 
necessity. An order was at once directed to be sent for the 
landing of the troops from the steamship Brooklyn into Fort 
Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must take the 
longer and slower. route by sea. The first return news from the 
order was received just one week before the fall of Sumter. The 
news itself was that the officer commanding the Sabine, to which 
vessel the troops had been transferred from the Brooklyn, acting 
upon some quasi armistice of the late Administration, and of 
the existen'ce of which the present Administration, up to the 
time the order was despatched, had only too vague aud uncertain 
rumors to fix attention, had refused to land the troops. To now 
reinforce Furt Pickens before a crisis would be reached at 
Fort Sumter was impossible, rendered so by the near exhaustion 
of provisions at the latter named fort. In precaution against 



LIFE AND SKUVlCJiS OF ABKAUAM LINCOLX. 107 

6uch a conjuncture the (ilnvornment had a few day3 before coni- 
menced preparing- an expedition, as well adapted as might be, to 
relieve Fort Sumter, which expedition was intended to be ulti- 
mately used or not, according to circumstances. The strongest 
anticipated case for using it was now presented, and it was re- 
solved to send it forward as had been intended. In this contin- 
f>eniy it was also resolved to notify the Governor of South Caro- 
lina that he might expect an attempt would be made to pro- 
vision the fort, and that if the attempt should not be resisted, 
there would be no at\cmpt to throw in men, arms, or ammu- 
nition, without further notice or in case of an attack upon the 
fort. This notice was accordingly given, whereupon the fort 
was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting 
the arrival of the provisioning expedition. 

" It is thus seen that the assault upon, and reduction of Fort 
Sumter, was, in no sense, a matter of self-defence on the part 
of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort 
could by no possibility commit aggression upon them ; they 
knew they were expressly notified that the giving of bread to the 
few brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which would 
on that occasitm be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting 
so much, should provoke more. They knew that this Govern- 
ment desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail 
them, but merely to maintain visible possession, and thus to pre- 
serve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution ; trust- 
ing, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the ballot- 
box for final adjustment, and they assailed and reduced the fort, 
for precisely the reverse oKject, to drive out the visible authority 
of the Federal Union. and thus force it to immediate dissolution; 
that this was their object the Executive well understood, having 
said to them in ^he Inaugural Address. ' you can have no con- 
flict without being yourselves the aggressors.' He took pains 
not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case 
so far from ingenious sophistry as that the world should not 
m-isunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its sur- 
rounding circumstances, that point was reached. Then and 
thereby the assailants of the Government began the conflict of 
arms, — without a gun in sight or in exjjectancy to return their 
fire, save only the i^w in the fort sent to that harbor years 
before, for their own protection, and still ready to give that pro- 
tection iu whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, 
they have forced upon the country the distinct issue, immediate 
dissolution or blood, and this issue embraces more than the fate 
of these United States. It presents to tht whole family of 
man the question whether a Constitutional Kepublic or De- 
mocracy, a Government of the people, by the same people, can 
or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own 
domestic foes. It presents the question whether discontented 
individuals, too few in numbers to control the Administratioa 



108 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

according to the organic law in any case, can always, apou 
the pretences made in this case, or any other pretences 
or arbitrarily without any pretence, break up their Govern- 
ment, and thus practically put an end to free governiner.t 
upon the earth. It forces us to ask, ' Is there in all republics 
this inherent and fatal weakness ?' Must a Government of 
necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too 
weak to maintain its own existence? So viewing the issue, no 
choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government, 
and so to resist the force employed for its destruction by force 
for its preservation. The call was made, and the response of 
the country was most gratifying, surpassing, in unanimity and 
spirit, the most sanguine expectation. Yet none of the States, 
commonly called slave States, except Delaware, gave a regi- 
ment through the regular State organization. A few regiments 
have been organized within some others of those States by 
individual enterprise, and received into the Government service. 
Of course the seceded States, so called, and to which Texas 
had been joined about the time of the inauguration, gave no 
troops to the cause of the Union. The Border States, so called, 
were not uniform in their action, some of them being almost for 
the Union, while in others as in Virginia, North Carolina, 
'J'ennessee, and Arkansas, the Union sentiment was nearly 
repressed and silenced. The course taken in Virginia was the 
most remarkable, perhaps the most important. A convention, 
elected by the people of that State to consider this very ques. 
lion of disrupting the Federal Union, was in session at the 
capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter fell. 

" To this body the people had chosen a large majority of pro- 
fessed Union men. Almost immediately after the fall of Sum- 
ter many members of that majority went over to the original 
disunion minority, and with them adopted an ordinance for with- 
drawing the State from the Union. Whether this change was 
wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or 
their gi'eat resentment at the Government's resistance to that 
assault, is not definitely known. Although they submitted the 
ordinance for ratification to a vote of the people, to be taken on 
a day then somewhat more than a month distant, the Conven- 
tion and the Legislature, which was also in session at th^ same 
time and place, with leading men of the State, not members 
of cither, immediately commenced acting as if the State was 
already out of the Union. They pushed military preparations 
vigorously forward all over the State, They seized the United 
Slates Armory at Harper's Ferry, and the Kavy-Yard at Gos- 
port, near Norfolk. They received, perhaps invited into their 
State large bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, 
from the so-called seceded StaUkS. 

"They formally entered into a treaty of temporary alliance 
with the so-called Confederate States, and sent members to their 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLIf. 109 

Congress at Montgomery, and finally they permitted the insur- 
rectionary Goverumeut to be transferred to their capitol at 
Kichmoiid. The peojile of VirLMiiia have thus allowed this 
giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders, and this 
Government has no choice left but to deal with it whore it finds 
it, and it has tlie less to regret as the loyal citizens have in due 
form claimed its protection. Those loyal citizens this (govern- 
ment is bound to recognize and protect as being in Virginia. 
In the Border States, so called, in fact the middle States, there 
are those who favor a policy which they call armed neutrality, 
that is, an arming of those States to prevent the Union forces 
passing one way or the disunion forces the other over their soil. 
This would be disunion completed. Figuratively speaking, it 
would be the building of an impassable wall along the line of 
separation, and yet not quite an impassable one, for under the 
guise of neutrality it would tie the hands of the Union men, and 
freely pass supplies from among them to the insurrectionists, 
which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it would 
take all the trouble off the hands of secession, except only 
what proceeds from the external blockade. It would do for the 
disunionists that which of all things they most desire, feed them 
well and give them disunion without a struggle of their own. 
It recognizes no fidelity to the Constitution, no obligation to 
maintain the Union, and while very many who have favored it 
are doubtless loyal citizens, it is nevertheless very injurious iu 
effect. 

" llecurring to the action of the Government it may be stated 
that at first a call was made f^r 75,000 militia, and rapidly 
following this a proclamation was issued for closing the ports 
of the insurrectionary districts by proceedings in the nature 
of a blockade. So far all was believed to be strictly legal. 

"At this point the insurrectionists announced their purpose 
to enter upon the practice of privateering. 

" Other calls were made for volunteers, to serve three years, un- 
less sooner discharged, and also for large additions to the regular 
army and navy. These measures, whether strictly legal or not, 
were ventured upon under what appeared to be a popular demand 
and a public necessity, trusting then, as now, that Congress 
would ratify them. 

" It is^believed that nothing has been done beyond the con- 
Rtitutional competency of Congress. Soon after the first call 
for militia it was considered a duty to authorize the commanding 
general, in proper cases, according to his discretion, to suspend 
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus ; or, in other words, 
to arrest and detain, without resort to the ordinary processes 
and forms of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous 
to the public safety. This authority has purposely been exer- 
cised but very sparingly. Nevertheless the legality and pro- 
priety of what has been done under it are questioned, and the 



110 LIFE AND b'KRVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

attention of the country has been called to the proposition that 
one who is sworn to take cure that the laws be faithfully exe- 
cuted, should not himself violate them. Of course some 
consideration was given to the questions of power and propriety 
before this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws 
which were required to be faithfully executed were being resisted, 
and failing of execution in nearly one-third of the States. 
Must they be allowed to finally fail of execution, even had it 
been perfectly clear that by use of the means necessary to their 
execution, some single law, made in such extreme tenderness of 
the citizen's liberty that practically it relieves more of the 
guilty than the innocent, should to a very great extent be 
violated? To state the question more directly, are all the laws 
but one to go unexecuted, and the Government itself to go to 
pieces lest that one be violated? Even in such a case would 
not the official oath be broken if the Government should be 
overthrown when it was believed that disregarding the single law 
would tend to preserve it. 

"But it was not believed that this question was presented. 
It was not believed that any law was violated. The provision 
of the Constitution, that the privilege of the writ of habeas 
corpus -shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases' of rebel- 
lion or invasion, the public safety may require it, is equivalent to 
a provision that such privilege may be suspended when, in cases 
of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It 
was decided that we have a case of rebellion, and that the 
public safety does require the qualified suspension of the 
privilege of the writ, which was authorized to be made. Now, 
it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested 
with this power. But the Constitution itself is silent as 
to whiph or who is to exercise the power ; and as the provision 
was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it cannot be 
believed that the framers of the instrument intended that in 
every case the danger should run its course until Congress could 
be called together, the very assembling of which might be pre- 
vented, as was intended in this case by the rebellion. No more 
extended argument is now afforded, as an opinion at some 
length will probably be presented byHhe Attorney-General. 
Whether there shall be any legislation on the subject, and if so 
what, is submitted entirely to the better judgment of Cougress. 
The forbearance of this Government had been^o extraordinary, 
and so long continued, as to lead some foreign nations to shape 
their action as if they supposed the early destruction of our 
national Union was probable. While this, on discovery, gave 
the Executive some concern, he is now happy to say that the 
sovereignty and rights of the United States are now everywhere 
practically respected by foreign Powers, and a general sympathy 
with the country is manifested throughout the world. 

" The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, aud 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. lU 

the Navy, will pivn the inforniation in detail deemei] nocessary 
and convenient for your deliberation and action, while tlie Ex- 
ecutive and all the dopartniiMils will stand ready to supply 
omissions or to communicate new facts considered important for 
you to know. 

" It is now recommended that you pive the lef;:al means for 
making tliis contest a short and decisive one ; that you place at 
the control of the Government for the work at least 400,000 
men and $400,000,000 ; -that number of men is about one-tenth 
of those of proper a<res within the regions where apparently all 
are willing: to en<xage. and the sum is less than a twenty-third 
part of the money value owned by the men who seem ready to 
devote the whole. A debt of §600,000,000 now is a less sum 
per head than was the debt of our Revolution when we came 
out of that struggle, and tlie money value in the country bears 
even a greater proportion to what it was then than does the 
population. Surely each man has as strong a motive now to 
preserve our liberties as each had then to establish them. 

'"A right result at this time will bo worth more to the world 
than ten timo^s the men and ten times the money. The evidence 
reaching us from the country leaves no doubt that the material 
for the work is abundant, and that it needs only the hand of 
legislation to give it legal sanction, and the hand of the Execu- 
tive to give it practical sh-ipe and efficiency. One of the greatest 
perplexities of the Government is to avoid receiving troops 
faster than it can provide for them ; in a word, the people will 
save their Government if the Government will do its part only 
inilifferently well. It might seem at first thought to be of little 
difference whether the present movement al the South be called 
secession or rebellion. 1'he movers, however, well understand 
the ditTerence. At the beginning thoy knew that they could 
never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude by any 
name which implies violation of law ; they knew their people 
possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law 
and order, and as much pride in its reverence for the history and 
(government of tlieir common country, as any other civilized 
and patriotic people. They knew they could make no advauci> 
ment directly in the teeth of these stroni: and noble sentiments. 
Accordingly they contmenced by an insidious debauching of the 
Dublic mind ; they invented an ingenious sophism, which, if con- 
ceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps through all the 
incidents of the complete deslrnction of the Union. The 
sophism itself is that any Slate of the Union may, consistently 
with the nation's Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peace- 
fully, withdraw from the Union without the consent of the 
Union or of any other State. 

"The little disguise that the sujtposed right is to be exercised 
only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judge r>f its justice, 
ia too thin to merit anj notice with rebellion. Thus sugar- 
7 



112 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN, 

coated, they have been drugging the public mind of their section 
for more than thirty years, and until at length they have brought 
many good men to a willingness to take up anus against the 
Goverunieut the day after some assemblage of men have enacted 
the farcical pretence of taking their State out of the Union, who 
could have been brought to no such thing the day before. This 
sophism derives much, perhaps the whole of its currency, from 
the assumption that there is some omnipotent and sacred su- 
premacy pertaining to a State, to each State of our Federal 
Union. Our States have neither more nor less power than that 
reserved to them in the Union by the Constitution, no one of 
them ever having been a State out of the Union. The original 
ones passed into the Union before they cast off their British 
Colonial dependence, and the new ones came into the Union 
directly from a condition of dependence, excepting Texas, and 
even Texas, in its temporary independence, Avas never designated 
as a State. The new ones only took the designation of States 
on coming into the Union, while that name was first adopted 
for the old ones in and by the Declaration of Independence. 
Therein the United Colonies were declared to be free and inde- 
pendent States. But even then the ol)ject plainly was not to 
declare their independence of one another of the Union, but di- 
rectly the contrary, as their mutual pledge and their mutual ac- 
tion before, at the time, and afterward, abundantly show. The 
express plight of faith by each and all of the original thirteen 
States in the Articles of Confederation two years later that the 
Union shall be perpetuated, is most conclusive. Having never 
been States either in substance or in name outside of the Union, 
whence this magical omnipotence of State rights, asserting a 
claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself. Much is 
said about the sovereignty of the States, but the word even is 
not in the National Constitution, nor, as is believed, in any of 
the State constitutions. What is sovereignty in the political 
sense of the woid ? Would it be far wrong to define it a politi- 
cal community without a political superior? Tested by this, no 
one of our States, except Texas, was a sovereignty, and even 
Texas gave up the character on coming into the Union, by 
which act she acknowledged the Constitution of the United 
States ; and the laws and treaties of the United States, made in 
pursuance of States, have their status in the Union, made in 
pursuance of the Constitution, to be for he/ the supreme law. 
The States have their status in the Union, and tliey have no 
other legal status. If they break from this, they can only do so 
against law and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves 
separately, procured their independence and their liberty by con- 
quest or purchase. The Union gave each of them whatever of 
independence and liberty it has. The Union is older than any 
of the States, and, in lact, it created them, as States. Origi- 
nally, some dependent Colonies made the Union, and in turn the 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 113 

Union threw off their old dependence for them and made them 
Stales, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a State 
constitution independent of the Union. Of course it is not for- 
gotten tliat all the new States formed their constitutions before 
they entered the Union; nevertheless, dcilendent upon, and pre- 

Saratory to coming into the Union. Unquestionably, the States 
avc the powers and rights reserved to them in and by the Na- 
tional Constitution. 

" But among these surely are not included all conceivable 
powers, however mischievou.s or destructive, but at most such 
only as were known in the world at the time as governmental 

Sowers, and certainly a power to destroy the Government itself 
ad never been known as a governmental, as a merely adminis- 
trative power. This relative matter of national power and State 
rights as a principle, is no other than the princi))le of generality 
and locality. Whatever concerns the whole should be conferred 
to the whole General Government, while whatever concerns only 
the State should be left exclusively to the State. This is all 
there is of oriirinal principle about it. "Whether the National 
Constitution, in defining boundaries between the two, has ap- 
plied the principle with exact accuracy, is not to be questioned. 
We are all bound by that defining without question. What is 
now combated, is the position that secession is consistent with 
the Constitution, is lawful and peaceful. It is not contended 
that there is any express law for it, and nothing should ever be 
implied as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. 
Tiie nation purchased with money the countries out of which 
several of those States were formed. Is it just that they shall 
go off without leave and without refunding? The nation ])aid 
very large sums in the aggregate, I believe nearly a hundred 
millions, to relieve Flori<la of the aboriginal tribes. Is it just 
that she shall now be off without consent or without any return ? 
The nation is now in debt for money ap]ilied to the benefit of 
these so-calle.d seceding States, in common with the rest. Is it 
just, either that ci'editors shall go unpaid, or the remaining 
Slates pay the whole ? A part of the present national debt was 
contracted to pay the old debt of Texas. Is it just that she 
sh;ill leave and pay no part of this herself? Again, if one State 
may secede so may another, and when all shall have seceded 
none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors? 
]>id we notify them of this sage view of ours when we borrowed 
their money ? If we now recognize this doctrine by allowing the 
seceders to go in peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if 
others choose to go, or to extort terms upon which they will 
promise to remain. The seceders insist that our Constitution 
admits of secession. They have assumed to make a National 
Constitution of their own, in which, of necessity, they have either 
discarded or retained the right of .secession, as they insist exists 
in ours. If they have discarded it, they thereby admit that ou 



114 LIFE AND SERVICJiS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

principle it ought not lo exist in ours ; if tliey have retained it, 
b}' their own construction of ours that shows that to be consist- 
ent, they must secede from one another whenever they shall find 
jt the easiest way of settling' their debts, or effecUng any other sel- 
fish or unjust object. The principle itself is one of disintegra- 
tion, and upon which no Government can possibly endure. If 
all the States save one should assert the power to drive that one 
out of the Union, it is presumed the whole class of seceder poli- 
ticians would at once deny the power, and denounce the act aa 
the greatest outrage upon State rights. But suppose that pre- 
cisely the same act, instead of being called driving the one out, 
should be called the seceding of the others from that one, it 
would be exactly what the seceders claim to do, unless, indeed, 
they made the point that the one, because it is a minority, may 
rightfully do what the others, because they are, a majority, may 
not rightfully do. These politicians are subtle, and profound in 
the rights of minorities. 'J'hey are not partial to that power 
which made the Constitution, and speaks from the preamble, 
calling itself, ' We, the people.' It may be well questioned 
whether there is to-day a majority of the legally-qualified voters 
of any State, except, perhaps, South Carolina, in favor of dis- 
union. There is much reason to believe that the Union men are 
the majority in many, if not in every one of the so-called seceded 
States. The contrary has not been demonstrated in any one of 
them. It is ventured to affirm this, even of Virginia and Ten- 
nessee, for the result of an election held in military camps, where 
the bayonets are all on one side of the question voted upon, can 
scarcely be considered as demonstrating popular sentiment. At 
such an election all that large class who are at once for the 
Union and against coercion, would be coerced to vote against 
the Union. It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the 
free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and im- 
proved the condition of our whole people beyond any example 
in the world. Of this we now have a striking and impressive 
illustratiun. So large an army as the Government has now on 
foot was never before known, without a soldier in it but who has 
taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than 
this, there are many single regiments whose members, one and 
another, possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, 
professions, and whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is 
known in the whole world, and there is scarcely one from which 
there could not be selected a President, a Cabinet, a Congress, 
and perhaps a Court, abundantly competent to administer the 
Government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also in the 
army of our late friends, now adversaries, in this contest. But 
it is so much better the reason why the Government which has 
conferred such benefits on both them and us should not be broken 
up. Whoever in any section proposes to abandon such a Gov- 
ernment, would do well t) consider in deference to what prio 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 115 

ciplc it is that he does it. "Wlmt better he is likely to get in 
its stead, whether the substitute will give, or be intended to 
give so much of good to the people. Tiiere are some fore- 
shudowings on this suhjeot. Our adversaries have adoj)ted some 
declarations of independence in which, unlii<e the good old one 
penned by Jet^erson, they omit the words, "all men are created 
equal.' Why? They have adopted a temporary National Con- 
stitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one 
signed by Washington, they omit ' We the people,' and substi- 
tute ' We. the deputies of the sovereign and independent States.' 
Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of 
men and the autliority of the people? This is essentially a peo- 
ple's contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for 
maintaining in the world that form and substance of Government 
•whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men, to lift 
artilicial weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laud- 
able pursuit for all, to afford all an unfettered start and a fair 
chance in the race of life, yielding to partial and temporary de- 
partures from necessity. This is the leading object of the Gov- 
ernment, for whose existence we contend. 

" I am most happy to believe that the plain people understand 
and appreciate this. It is worthy of note that while in this, the 
Government's hour of trial, large numbers of those in the army 
and navy who have been favored with the offices, have resigned 
and proved false to the hand which pampered them, not one 
common soldier or common sailor is known to have deserted his 
flag. Great honor is due to those officers who remained true 
despite the example of their treacherous associates, but the 
greatest honor and the most important fact of all, is the unani- 
mous firmness of the common soldiers and common sailors. To 
the last man, so far as known, they have successfully resisted 
the traitorous efforts of those whose commands but an hour be- 
fore they obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic instinct 
of plain people. They understand without an argument that the 
destroying the Government which was made by Washington 
means no good to them. Our popular Government has often 
been called an experiment. Two points in it our people have 
settled : the successful establishing and the successful adminis- 
tering of it. One still remains. Its successful maintenance 
against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now 
for them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly 
carry an election can also suppress a rebellion ; that ballots are 
the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets, and that when 
ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no 
successful appeal back to bullets ; that there can be no success- 
ful appeal except to ballots themselves at succeeding elections. 
Such will be a great lesson of peace, teaching men that what 
they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war, 
teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war. 

" Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid men 



116 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

as to what is to be the course of the government toward the 
Southern States after the rebellion shall have been suppressed, 
the Executive deems it proper to say it will be his purpose, then, 
as ever, to be guided by the Constitution and the laws, and that 
he probably will have no different understanding of the powers 
and duties of the Federal Government relatively to the rights 
of the States and the people under the Constitution than that 
expressed in the inaugural address. He desires to preserve the 
government, that it may be administered for all, as it was ad-' 
ministered by the men who made it. Loyal citizens everywhere 
have the right to claim this of their government, and the gov- 
ernment has no right to withhold or neglect it. It is not per- 
ceived that, in giving it, there is any coercion, any conquest, or 
any subjugation in any sense of these terras. 

" The Constitution provided, and all the States have accepted 
the provision, ' that the United States shall guarantee to every 
State in this Union a Eepublican form of government ;' but if a 
State may lawfully go out of the Union, having done so, it may 
also discard the Republican form of government. So that to 
prevent its going out is an indispensable means to the end of 
maintaining the guarantee mentioned ; and, when an end is law- 
ful and obligatory, the indispensable means to it are also lawful 
and obligatorj'. 

" It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the 
duty of employing the war power forced upon him. In defence 
of the government he could but perform this duty or surrender 
the existence of the go^'ernment. No compromise by public 
servants could, in this case, be a cure ; not that compromises are 
Dot often proper, but that no popular government can long sur- 
vive a marked precedent, that those who carry an election can 
only save the government from immediate destruction by giving 
up the main point upon which the people gave the election. 
The people themselves and not their servants can safely reverse 
their own deliberate decisions. 

"As a private citizen, the Executive could not have consented 
that these institutions shall perish, much less could he in be- 
trayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people had 
confided to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink, 
nor even to count the chances of his own life in what might 
follow. 

" In full view of his great responsibility, he has so far done what 
he has deemed his duly. You will now, according to your own 
judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes that your views 
and your actions may so accord with his as to assure all faith- 
ful citizens who have been disturbed in their rights of a cer- 
tain and speedy restoration to them under the Constitution and 
laws ; and, having thus chosen our cause without guile, aud 
with pure purpose, let us renew our trust iu God, and go for- 
ward without fear and with manly hearts. 

" Abraham Lincoln." 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 117 

A DAY OP FASTING AND PRAYER AP- 
POINTED. 

On the twelfth of August, the following proclamation, 
appointing a day of fasting and prayer, was issued : 

"WJiei'eas, A joint cominittee of both Houses of Congress 
has waited on the President of the United States, and requested 
him to ' reooniinend a day of public humiliation, prayer, and fast- 
ing, to be observed by the people of the United States with reli- 
gious solemnities, and the offering of fervent supplications to 
Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, His 
blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace.' 

"And wkcrea/s. It is lit and becoming in all people, at all 
times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of 
God ; to bow in humble submission to his chastisements ; to 
confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full con- 
viction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and 
to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their 
past oiTenoes, and for a blessing upon their present and prospec- 
tive action. 

"J;trf whereas, When our own beloved country, once, by the 
blessing of God, united, prosperous, and happy, is now afflicted 
with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize 
the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and, in sorrowful re- 
membrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation, and as in- 
dividuals, to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray for Hia 
mercy — to pray that we may be spared further punishment, 
though ifiost justly deserved ; that our arras may be blessed and 
made ell'ectual for the re-establishment of law, order, and peace 
throughout the wide extent of our country; and that the inesti- 
mable boon _of civil and religious liberty, earned under His 
guidance and blessing by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, 
may be restored in all its original excellence; 

"Therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, do appoint the last Thursday in September next as a 
day of humiliation, prayer and fasting for all the people of the 
nation. And 1 do earnestly recommend to all the people, and 
especially to all ministers and teachers of r-jligion, of all denomi- 
nations, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that 
day, according to their several creeds and modes of worship, iu 
all humility, and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the 
united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace, 
and bring down plentiful blessings upon our country. 

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, this 
[lu s.] 12th day of August, a. d. IHGI, and of the Independ- 
ence of the United States of America the eighty-sixth, 

"By the President: "Abrauam Lincoln. 

"Wii,LiA>i H. Seward, Secretary of Slate." 



118 LIFE AND jiEKVICES VF ABRAHAM Ll^STOOLN. 



COMMEEOIAL INTEKCOtmSE WITH THE RE- 
BELLIOUS STATICS PHOHIBITED. 

Four clays later be also promulgated the following : 

"Wher'cas. On the loth dtiy of April, the President of the 
United States, in view of au insurrection ati'ainst the laws, Con- 
stitution, and Government of the United States, which had 
broken out within the States of South Carolina, (jreornia, Ala- 
bama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and in pnrsn- 
aace of the provisions of the act entitled an act to provide for 
calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup- 
press insurrections, and repel invasions, and to repeal the act 
now in force for that purpose, approved February 28th, 1795, 
did call forth the militia to suppress said insurrection and cause 
the laws of the Union to be duly executed — and the insurgents 
have failed to disperse by the time directed by the President ; 
and whereas, such insurrection has since broken out and yet 
exists within the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, 
and Arkansas ; and whereas, the insurgents in all the said 
States claim to act under authority thereof, and such claim is 
not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons exercising the func- 
tions of government in such State or States, or in the part or 
parts thereof, in which such combinations exist, nor has such 
insurrection been suppressed by said States. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, in pursuance of the act of Congress approved 
July 13th, lb61, do hereby declare that the inhabitants of the 
said States of Ceorgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, 
Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, except the 
inhabitants of that part of the State of Virginia lying west of 
the Alleghany Mountains, and of such other parts of that State 
and the other States hereinbefore named as may maintain a loyal 
adhesion to the Union and the Constitution, or may be, from 
time to time occupied and controlled by the forces of tho 
United States engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents, as 
are in a state of insurrection against the United States, and that 
all commercial intercourse between the same and the inhabi- 
tants thereoi", with the exception aforesaid, and the citizens of 
other States and other parts of the United States, is unlawful 
and will remain uidawful until such insurrection shall cease or 
has been suppressed ; that all goods and chattels, wares and 
merchandize, coming from any of the said States, with the ex- 
ceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the United States, without 
the special license and permission of the President, through the 
Secretary of the Treasury, or proceeding to any of the said 
States, with the exception aforesaid, by land or water, together 
with the vessel or vehicle conveying the same or conveying per- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF AliUAHAM L1XC0L5'. 119 

Bons to and from tlie said States, with the said excei)tion8, will 
be loifeited to the United States; and tiiat, from and after fif- 
teen days from the issuing of this proclamation, all ships and 
vessels belont^'in?, in whole or in part, to any citizen or inhabi- 
tant of any of the said States, with the said exceptions, fonnd at 
sea in any part of the United Stales, will be forfuiled to the 
United States ; and I hereby enjoin upon all district attorneys, 
marshals, and officers of the revenue of the military and naval 
forces of the United States to be vigilant in'the execution of the 
said act, and in the enforcement of the penalties and forfeitures 
imposed or declared by it, leaving any party who may think him- 
self aggrieved thereby to his application to the Secretary of the 
Treasury for the remission of any penalty or forfeiture, which 
the said Secretary is authorized by law to grant if, in his judg- 
ment, the special circumstances of any case shall require such 
a remission. 

" lu witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
the seal of the United States to be atlixed. 

" Done in the city of Washington, this, the IGth day of Au- 
gust, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of 
America the eighty-sixth. 

"By the President: "Abraham Lincoln. 

" William H. Seward." 

HE MODIFIES AIT OSDER OP GENERAL FEE- 
MONT. 

In the latter part of August, General Fremont declared 
martial law throughout the Slate of Missouri, and at the 
same time ordered that the property of all persons within 
the limits of his Department who had been disloyal, should 
be confiscated, and their slaves declared free men, but the 
President promptly issued an order modifying that clause 
of the proclamatioji in relation to the confiscation of prop- 
erty and the liberation of slaves, so as to conform with, 
and not transcend the provisions on the same subject con- 
tained in the Act of Congress approved August Gth, 18G1. 

HIS SECOND MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. 

On the 3d of Decenibcr, ISGl, Congress having convened 
on the preceding day, the President sent in his Message, a 
document which was eminently conservative and which 



120 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

was received with great satisfaction by the loyal men of 
the country. No general scheme of emancipation was 
urged, and in alluding to the policy to be adopted to en- 
sure the suppression of the rebellion, he stated that he 
had been anxious and careful that the inevitable conflict 
necessaiy for that purpose, should not degenerate into a 
violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. " I have, 
therefore," he continued, " in every case, thought it proper 
to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the pri- 
mary object of the contest on our part, leaving all ques- 
tions which are not of vital military importance to the 
more deliberate action of the Legislature." 

There can never be any difficulty in ascertaining Mr, 
Lincoln's views upon th^ exciting and absorbing topics of 
the day. His messages, proclamations, and correspond- 
ence all evince the same spirit of independence and deter- 
mination, while his language is so explicit that there can 
be no doubt of his meaning. In his letter to Governor 
Magoffin, of Kentucky, declining to remove the Union 
troops from that State, and rebuking that official for his 
indifference to the cause of his country — in the one to Gen- 
eral Fremont, in reference to the modification of his pro- 
clamation, and in fact in all his correspondence on matters 
connected with political movements, his views have been 
of such a force and exalted character that they could not 
fail to receive the hearty approbation of his fellow-country- 
men. 

On the nineteenth of February, 18G2, he issued a pro- 
clamation requesting the people of the United States to 
assemble on the twenty-second of the same month and 
celebrate the day by reading the Farewell Address of the 
" Father of his Country." 

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE RECOMMENDING 
GRADUAL EMANCIPATION. 

On the sixth of March, 1862. the President sent into 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 121 

Congress the following Message, recommending the adop- 
tion of measures looking to " gradual, and not sudden" 
emancipation : 

"Fellotv- Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 

"I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your 
honorable boilies whicli shall be substantially as follows : 

" 'Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate with 
any Slate which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, 
giving- to such State pecuniary aid to be used by such Stato 
in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public 
and private, produced by such change of system.' 

" If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet 
the approval of Congress and the country, there is the end ; but 
if it, does command such approval, I deem it of importance 
that the States and people immediately interested should be at 
once distinctly notilied of the fact, so that they may begin to 
consider whether to accept or reject it. The Federal Govern- 
ment would find its highest interest in such a measure as one of 
the most eRicient means of self-preservation. The leaders of 
tiie existing insurrection entertain the hope that the Govern- 
ment will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence 
of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the slave 
States north of such parts will then say: 'The Union for which 
■we have struggled being already gone,we now choose to go with 
the southern section.' To deprive them of this hope, substan- 
tially ends the rebellion, and the initiation of emancipation com- 
pletely deprives them of it as to all the States initiating it. 

" 'J'he point is not that all the Stales tolerating slavery would 
very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation, but that while the 
offer is equally made to all, the more northern shall, by such 
initiation, make it certain to the more southern that ii> no 
event will the former ever join the latter in their proposed con- 
federacy. I say 'initiation,' because, in my judgment, gradual 
and not sudden emancipation is better for all. In the mere 
financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the 
census tables and the treasury report before him, can readily 
see for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this 
■war would purchase, at a fikir valuation, all the slaves in any 
named State. 

" Such a proposition on the part of the general Government 
sets up no claim of a right by Federal authority to interfere 
■with slavery within State limits, referring as it does the absolute 
control of the subject in each case to the State and its people 
immediately interested. It is proposed as a matter of perfectly 
free choice with them. 

" In the annual message last December I thought fit to say : 



122 LIFE AKD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

'The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable 
means must be employed.' I said this not hastily, but deliber- 
ately. War has been, and continues to be an indispensable 
means to this end. A practical re-acknowledgment of the 
national authority would render the war unnecessary, and it 
would at once cease. If, however, resistance contiuuej;, the war 
must also continue, and it is impossible to foresee all the inci- 
dents which may attend, and all the ruin which may follow it. 
Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise 
great efficiency toward ending the struggle, must and will come. 
The propusition now made is an oiTt-r only, and I hope it may 
be esteemed no oflence to ask whether the pecuniary considera- 
tion tendered would not be of more value to the States and 
private persons concerned than are the institution and property 
in it, in the present aspect of affairs. While it is true that the 
adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely initiatory, 
and not within itself a practical measure, it is recommended in 
the hope that it would soon lead to important results. In full 
view of my great responsibility to my God and to my country, 
I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the 
subject. ''Abraham Liincoln," 

This important recommendation was received with the 
most unbounded satisfaction in all sections of the great 
North and West, and the leading loyal journals vied with 
each other in the laudatory notices bestowed upon its illus- 
trious author. The English press favorable to the preser- 
vation of the Union, were equally complimentary, and 
pronounced it a fair, moderate, and magnanimous policy, 
greatly in contrast with that adopted by the rebel authori- 
ties. 

ASSUMES ACTIVE COMMAND OP THE ARMY 
AND NAVY. 
On the eleventh of March, 1862, the President gave an 
additional evidence of his independence and fearlessness 
by promulgating, for the information of the service and 
the country, three important military orders, assuming the 
active duties of Commander-in-Chief of the Army and 
Navy of the United States ; ordering a general and com- 
bined movement of the land and naval forces ; requiring 
the Army of the Potomac to be organized into Corps ; con- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 123 

fining General McClellan to the command of the Depart- 
ment of the Potomac ; and organizing the Department of 
the Mississippi and the Mountain Department. 

THANKSGIVING FOR SIGNAL VICTORIES. 

The triumphant success of our arms in the South and 
West during the early spring months of that year of con- 
flict and carnage, prompted ^Ir. Lincoln to call upon the 
patriots of the nation to offer up their thanks to the Al- 
mighty for his manifold kindnesses, and for the inestimable 
blessings he had showered upon them in their hour of 
need. The recommendation was scrupulously observed, 
and from almost every place of public worship arose upon 
the following Sabbath songs of thanksgiving, mingled with 
invocations for a continuance of the Divine guidance. 

SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN THE DISTRICT OP 
COLUMBIA. 
On the sixteenth of April, 1862, Mr. Lincoln consum- 
mated an act which bad for many years been one of his 
most favorite projects, by sending into Congress the fol- 
lowing Message : 

" Fellow- Cilizcvs of the Senate and Tlouse of Uepresentativea : 

"The act entitled 'An act for tlie release of certain persona 
held to service or labor in the District of Columbia,' lias tliia 
day been approved and sisjned. 

•' I have never doubted the constitutional anthoritj' of Con- 
gress to abolish slavery in this District, and I have ever desired 
to see the national capital freed from the institution in some 
satisfactory way. Hence there has never been in my mind any 
question upon the subject except the one of expediency, arising 
in view of all the circumstances. If there be matters within 
and about this act, which might have taken a course or shape 
more satisfactory to my judirment, I do not attempt to specify 
them. I am frralified tiiat the two principles of compensation 
and colonization are both recognized and practically applied ia 
the act. 

"In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims 
may be presented within ninety days from the passage of the 
uct, but not thereafter, and there is no saving for minors. /emmes 



124 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

coverts, insane, or- absent persons. I presume this is an omis- 
sion by mere oversight, and I recommeud that it be supplied by 
aa amendatory or supplemental act. "Aiseaham Lincoln." 

RE-OPENING OP SOUTHERlSr PORTS. 

During' the month of May, 1862, two important proclama- 
tions were published — one on the twelfth, declaring the ports 
of Beaufort, Port Royal, and New Orleans open for trade ; 
and the second, a week later, repudiating an emancipation 
order of Major-General Hunter. This last document is 
too important a part of the history of the rebellion to be 
omitted here, and we therefore give it in full. It is as 
follows : 

" Whereas, There ajipears in the public prints what purports 
to be a proclamation of Major-(jleneral Hunter, in the words and 
figures following, to wit: 

" ' Head-quartkrs, Department op the SouTn, 
" ' Hilton Head, S. C, May 9th, 1862. 
"'Gkneral Ordkrs No. 11. 

"'The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, 
comprising the Military Department of the South, having delib- 
erately declared themselves no longer under the protection of 
the United States of America, and having taken up arms against 
the said United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare 
them under maitial law. This was accorfingly done on the 
twenty-fifth day of April, 18G2. Slavery and martial law in a 
free country are altogetlier incompatible. The- persons in these 
three States, Georgia, Florida,, and South Carolina, heretofore 
held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. 

'"David Hunter, Major-General Commanding. 

'" Official: 

'"Ed. W. Smith, Acting Assistant Adjutant- General.' 

"And luhereas, Tlie same is producing some excitement and 
misunderstanding, 

''Therefore, I, Abraham Uincoln, President of the United 
States, proclaim and declare that the government of the United 
States had no knowledge or belief of an intention, on the part of 
General Hunter, to issue such a proclamation, nor has it yet any 
authentic information that the document is genuine.; and further, 
that neither General Hunter nor any other commander or persou 
has been authorized by the government of the United States to 
make proclamation declaring the slaves of awy State free, and 
that the supposed pioclanmtion now in question, whether 
genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such 
declaraUou. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 125 

" I further make known, that whether it be competent for me 
as commander-in-chief of the' army and navy to dcclnre the 
slaves of any State or States free, and whether at any time, or 
in any case, it shall have become a necessity iiulispensable to the 
niaintonaiice of the government to exercise such supposed power, 
are questions which, under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, 
and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of 
commanders in the field. These are totally different que.stioua 
from those of police regulations in armies and camps. 

"On the sixth day of March last, by a special message, I 
recommended to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution, to 
be substantially as follows : 

'" 'Kesolved,' Thai \\ie United States ought to co-operate with 
any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, 
giving to such State in its discretion to compensate for the in- 
conveniences, public and private, produced by such change of 
system.' 

"The resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted 
by large majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands 
an authentic, definite and solemn proposal of the nation to the 
States and ptAjple most immediately interested in the subject 
matter. To the people of these States I now earnestly appeal. 
I do not argue ; I beseech you to make the arguments for your- 
selves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the 
times. I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, 
ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partisan politics. 
This proposal makes common cause for a common object, cast- 
ing no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. 'The 
change it contemplates would come gently as the dews of 
Heaven, not rending or wrecking any thing. Will you not em- 
brace it? So much good has not been done by one effort in all 
past time, as in the" Providence of God it is now your high 
privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that 
■"you have neglected it. 

"In witness whereof, T have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

"Done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of 
May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the 
eighty-sixth. 

'•By the President: "Abraham Lincoln, 

" Wm. II. Seward, Secretary of State." 

THE PRESIDENT'S CONFEEENCE WITH THE 
LOYAL GOVERNORS— HIS INTERVIEW WITH 
THE BORDER CONGRESSMEN, 

On the first of July, 1862, the President, in ac- 
cordance with the Act for the coUoction of direct taxes in 



126 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHIM LINCOLN. 

tho insurrectionary districts, issued a proclamation de- 
claring in what States and in what counties of Virginia 
insurrection existed ; and on the same day addressed a 
letter to the Governors of the loyal States, in reply to one 
received from them, asking that for the purpose of follow- 
ing up recent signal successes by measures which would 
ensure the speedy restoration of the Union, a sufficient 
number of men from each State to fill up existing regi- 
ments and to form new organizations, might be called for. 
Mr. Lincoln fully concurred in the views of the Executives 
and expressed his intention to call for an additional force 
of three hundred thousand men. 

On the twelfth of Jul}^, an interesting interview took 
place at the White House, the Senators and Representa- 
tives of the Border States having assembled there by in- 
vitation of the President, who wished to converse with 
them upon the important topic of gradual emancipation. 
During an extended conversation, he expressed his views 
clearly and explicitly, requesting their calm consideration 
of the subject, and charging them to commend his sug- 
gestions to their constituents, and to prevent all doubt of 
bis meaning, read to them the following appeal : 

*' Gentlemen: After the adjournment of Congress, now near. I 
pliall have no opportunity of seeing you for sevpral months. 
Believing that you of the border States hold more power for 
good than any other equal number of members, I feel it a duty, 
■which I cannot justifiably waive, to make this appeal to you. 

" I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that, 
in my opinion, if you all had voted for the resolution in the gradual 
emancipation message of last March, the war would now be sub- 
stantially ended. And the plan therein proposed is yet one of 
the most potent and swift means of ending it. Let the States 
which are in rebellion see definitely and certainly that, in no 
event, will the States you represent ever join their proposed 
confederacy, and they cannot much longer maintain the contest. 
But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have you 
with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the 
institutions within your own States. Beat them at elections, as 
you have overwhelmingly done, and, nothing daunted, they still 
claim vou as their own. You and I know what the lever of their 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 127 

power is. Break that lever before their faces, and they can 
shake you no luore forever. 

•' Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, 
and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what ia 
exclusively your own, when, for the sake of the whole country, 
I ask, ' Can you, for your States, do better than to take the 
course I urge?' Discardiug punctilio and maxims adapted to 
more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly 
stern facts of our case, can you do better in any possible event ? 
You prefer that the constitutional relation of the States to the 
nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of the 
institution ; and, if this were done, my whole duty, in this re- 
spect, under the Constitution and my oath of office, would be 
performed. But it is not done, audiwe are trying to accomplish 
It by war. The incidents of the war cannot be avoided. If the 
war continues long, as it must if the object be not sooner at- 
tained, the institution iu your States will be extinguished by 
mere friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents of the war. 
It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of it. 
Much of its value is gone already. How much better for yoti 
and for your people to take the step which at once shortens the 
war, and secures substantial compensation for that which is sure 
to be wholly lost in any other event 1 How much better to thus 
save the money which else we sink forever in the war ! How 
much better to do it while we can, lest the war, ere long, ren- 
der us pecuniarily unable to do it ! How much better for you, as 
seller, and the nation, as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without 
which the war could never have been, than to sink both the thing 
to be sold and the price of it in cutting one another's throats. 

" I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at 
once to emancipate gradually. Room in South America for 
colonization can be obtained cheaply and in abundance ; and, 
when numbers shall be large enough to be company and en- 
couragement for one another, the freed people will not be so 
reluctant to go. 

" I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned — one which 
threatens division among those who, united, are none too strong. 
An instance of it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest 
man. He was, and I hope still is, my friend. I valued him 
none the less for his agreeing with me in the general wish that 
all men everywhere could be freed. He proclaimed all men free 
within certain Stales, and I repudiated the proclamation. He 
expected more good and less harm from the measure than I could 
believe would follow. Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissatisfac- 
tion, if not offence, to many whose support the country cannot 
afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in 
this direction is still upon me, and is increasing. By conceding 
what I now ask, you can relieve me, and, much more, can relievo 
tbe country in this important point. 
b 



128 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN' 

" Upon these considerations I have again begged your atte? 
lion to the message of March last. Before leaving the capital, 
consider and discuss it among yourselves. You are patriots and 
statesmen, and, as such, I pray you consider this proposition, 
and, at the least, commend it to the consideration of your States 
and people. As you would perpetuate popular government for 
the best people in the world, I beseech you that you do in nowise 
omit this. Our common country is in great peril, demanding 
the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief. 
Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world, its 
beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, and its 
happy future fully assured and rendered inconceivably grand. 
To you, more tl\an to any others, the privilege is given to assui e 
that happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your own 
names therewith forever." 

INSTRUCTIONS TO MILITARY AND NAVAL 
COMMANDERS. 

On the twenty-second of July, he issued the following 
order : 

" War Department, Washington, July 22d, 18&2;. 

"First. Ordered that military commanders within the States 
of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, in an ordinary manner 
seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be 
necessary or convenient for their several commands, for sup- 
plies, or for other military purposes ; and tlnit while property 
may be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be de- 
stroyed in wantonness or malice. 

"Second. That military and naval commanders shall employ 
as laborers, within and from said States, so many persons of 
African descent as can be advantageously use'd for military or 
naval purposes, giving them reasonable wages for their labor. 

" Tlnrd. That, as to both property, and persons of African 
descent, accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in de- 
tail to show quantities and amounts, and from whom both prop- 
erty and such persons shall have come, as a basis upon which 
compensation can be made in proper cases ; and the several de- 
partments of this government shall attend to and perform their 
appropriate parts toward the execution of these orders. 
f" By order of the President. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, 

''Secretary of War." 

And on the twenty-fifth of July, by proclamation, he 
warned all persons to cease participating in aiding, counte- 
nandng, or abetting the rebellion, and to return to *heir 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 129 

allcf^iance under penalty uf the forfeitures and seizures 
provided by an Act "to suppress insurrection, to punish 
treason and rebellion, to seize and coufiscate the property 
of rebels, and for other purposes," approved on the seven- 
teenth of July, 1SG2. 

A DRAFT FOR THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND 
MEN ORDERED. 

On the fourth of August, 18G2, the following order for 
a draft was issued : 

" Ordered : First, that a draft of three hundred thousand mili- 
tia be immediately called into the service of the United States, 
to serve for nine innuthR. unless sooner discharged. The Secre- 
tary of War win assign the quotas to the States and establish 
regulations for the draft. 

"Second, that if any State shall not, by the fifteenth of 
August, furnish its quota of the additional three hundred thou- 
sand volunteers authorized by law, the deficiency of voiunteeri 
in that State will also be made up by a sjjecial draft from the 
militia. The Secretary of War will establish regulations for 
this purpose. 

" Third, regulations will be prepared by the War Department; 
tind presented to the President, with the object of securing the 
promotion of officers of the army and volunteers for meritorious 
and distinguished services, and of preventing the nomination and 
appointment in the military service of incompetent or un- 
worthy officers. 

"The regulations will also provide for ridding the service of 
such incompetent persons as now hold commissions. 

" By order of the President. 

"Edwin !M. Stanton, 

^'Secretary of War.' 

THE PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT A WAR 
MEETING. 

On the sixth of August, 1802, a large and enthusi- 
astic Union meeting was held in Washington, at which a 
series of patriotic resolutions was adopted, and numerous 
eloquent speeches delivered, among others the following 
characteristic one by the Chief Magistrate of the nation : 

"Fellow-citizens: I believe there is no precedent for my ap- 
pearing before you ou thia occasion, [applause,] hut it is" also 



130 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

true that there is no precedent for your being- here yourselvea, 
[applause and laughter,] and I offer, in justitication of myself 
and of you, that, upon examination, I have found nothing in the 
Constitution against it. [Renewed applause.] I, however, have 
an impression that there are younger gentlemen who will enter- 
tain you better, [voices — •' No, no ! none can do better than 
yourself. Go on !'] and butter address your understanding than 
I will or could, and therefo e I propose but to detain you a mo- 
ment longer. [Cries — ' Go o ! Tar and feather the rebels !'] 

" I am very little inclined on any occasion to say any thing 
unless 1 hope to produce some good by it. [A voice — ' You do 
that ; go on.'] The only thing I think of just now not likely to 
be better said by some one else is a matter in which we have 
heard some other persons blamed for what I did myself. 
[Voices — ' What is it ?'] There has been a very wide-spread at- 
tempt to have a quarrel between General McClellan and the 
Secretary of War. Now, I occupy a position that enables me 
to observe, at least these two gentlemen are not nearly so deep 
in the quarrel as some pretending to be their friends. [Cries of 
* Good.'] General McClellan's attitude is such that, in the very 
selfishness of his nature, he cannot but wish to be successful, 
and I hope he will — and the Secretary of War is in precisely the 
same situation. If the military commanders in the field cannot 
be successful, not only the Secretary of War, but myself, for the 
time being the master of them both, cannot be but failures. 
[Laughter and applause.] I know General McClellan wishes to 
' be successful, and I know he does not wish it any more than the 
Secretary of War for him, and both of them together no more 
than I wish it. [Applause and cries of ' Good.'] Sometimes 
"we have a dispute about how many men General McClellan has 
had, and those who would disparage him say that he has had a 
very large number, and those who would disparage the Secretary 
of War insist that General McClellan has had a very small 
number. The basis for this is, there is always a wide difference, 
and on this occasion perhaps a wider one, between the grand 
total on McClellan's rolls and the men actually fit for duty ; and 
those who would disparage him talk of the grand total on paper, 
and those who would disparage the Secretary of War talk of 
those at present fit for duty. General McClellan has sometimes 
asked for things that the Secretary of War did not give him. 
General McClellan is not to blame for asking what he wanted and 
needed, and the Secretary of War is not to blame for not giving 
when he had none to give. [Applause, laughter, and cries of 
' Good, good.'] And I say here, as far as I know, the Secretary 
of War has withheld no one thing at any time in my power to 
give him. [Wild applause, and a voice — ' Give him enough 
now!'] I have no accusation against him. I believe he is a 
brave and able man, [applause,] and I stand here, as justice re- 
quires me to do, to take upon myself what has been charged on 
the Secretary of War. as withholding from him. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LI^JCOLN. lol 

•• I have talked longer than I expected to, [cries of ' No, no — 
go on,'] and now I avail myself of my privilege of saying no 
morev" 

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS OP 
SEPTEMBER, 1862, AND JANUARY, 1863. 

On the twenty-second of September, 1862, Mr. Lincola 
issued one of the two most important proclamations ever 
/ enned by a President of the United States : that which 
mnounced to the negroes held as slaves in the rebellious 
States that on and after the first day of the new year, they 
should be forever released from bondage. This great docu- 
ment, which was read with joy by the loyal residents of the 
North, and which was a source of such infinite happiness 
to the unfortunate class of beings who were to be more 
particularly affected by its provisions, was as follows : 

" I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of 
America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter as here- 
tofore the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically 
restoring the constitutional relation between the United States 
and the people thereof in those States in which that relation is, 
or may be, su^^pended or disturbed ; that it is my purpose upon 
the next meeting of Congress to again recommend the adoption 
of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free ac- 
ceptance or rejection of all the slave States, so-called, the peo- 
ple whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United 
States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or 
thereafter may voluntarily adopt, the immediate or gradual 
abolishment of slavery within their respective limits, and that 
the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their con- 
sent, upon the continent or elsewhere, with the previously ob- 
tained consent of the government existing there, will be con- 
tinued ; that on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as 
slaves within any State, or any designated part of a State, the 
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United 
States, shall be then, thenceforward and forever, free, and the 
executive goveiiimont of the United States, including the 
military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and main- 
tain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to 
repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may 
make for their actual freedom ; that the Executive will, ou the first 



132 li'.iTF ^NZ) SERVICES ^F AEEAHAM LINCOLN. 

(lay of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States 
anti parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respec- 
tively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and 
the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day 
be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United 
States by menibers chosen thereto, at elections wherein a ma- 
jority of the qualified voters of such Statr sjiall have partici- 
pated, shall, IK the absence of strong countervailing testimony, 
be deemed cjnclusive evidence that such State and the people 
thereof have not been in rebellion against the United States. 

" That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress en- 
titled, 'An act to make an additional article of war,' approved 
March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figures fol- 
lowing : 

" 'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of Aw.er'ica, in Congress assembled, That here- 
after the following shall be promulgated as an additional article 
of war for the government of the army of the United States, and 
shall be observed and obeyed as such. 

" ' Article — . All officers or persons of the military or naval 
service of the United States are prohibited from employing any 
of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose 
of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have 
escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor ia 
claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by 
a court-martial of violating this article, shall be dismissed from 
the service. 

" ' Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take 
eflfect from and after its passage.' 

■'■ Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled, ' An 
j,ct to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to 
deize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes,' 
approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the worda 
and figures following : 

" ' Sec. 9. And be it further enacted. That all slaves of per- 
sons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the 
government of the United States, or who shall in any way give 
aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking 
refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured 
from such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the 
control of the government of the United States, and all slaves of 
such persons found on (or being within) any place occupied by 
rebel forces and afterwards occupied l)y the forces of the United 
States, shall be deemed ca]>tives of war. and shall be forever 
free of their servitude and not again held as slaves. 

^" Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, 'J'hat no slave escaping 
into any State, Teiritory, or the District of Columbia, from any 
of the States, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or 
hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some ofiTence against 



IjIFK and ftt:KViCii.3 OF AliKAUAil LINCOLN. 133 

(lie laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first makd 
oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugi- 
tive is alleged to be due, is his lawful owner, and has not been 
m arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor 
in any v/ny given aid and comfort thereto; and no person en- 
gaged in the military or naval service of the United States 
shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the 
validity of the claim of any ])erson to the service or labor of any 
other person, or surrender up any such i^fTrsou to the claimant, 
on pain of being dismissed from the service.' 

" And I do hereby enjoin upon, and order all persons engaged 
in the military and naval service of the United States to ob- 
serve, obey and enforce within their respective spheres of ser- 
vice the act and sections above recited. 

" And the executive will in due time recommend that all citi- 
zens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto 
throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the con- 
stitutional relation between the United States and their respec- 
tive States and people, if the relation shall have been suspended 
or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United 
States, including the loss of slaves. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-second day of 
September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and si.xty-two, and of the Independence of the United States 
the eighty-seventh. 

" By the President: "Abraham Lixcoln. 

" "Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of Slate." 

Such a bold movement was necessarily distasteful to 
the traitors, and while the Southern journals pronounced 
it to be a bid for the slaves to rise in insurrection, a bid 
which none but a barbarian would devise, it was denounced 
in the Richmond Congress, and a resolution was there 
offered, exhorting the people to slay every Union soldier 
and raider found within their borders, and oflFering a reward 
to every negro, who would, after the first of January, 1863, 
kill a Unionist. 

The other important proclamation was issued on the 

first of January, 1863, and was worded as follows : 

"Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a 
proclamation was issued by the President of the United Statea 
containing among other things the following, to wit : - 



134: LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LI.N'COLN". 

" That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as 
slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the 
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United 
States, shall be then, thenceforth and forever free, and the Ex- 
ecutive Government of the United States, including the military 
and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress 
such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for 
their actual freedom. 

" That the Executive will, on the first day of January afore- 
said, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, 
if any, in which the people therein respectively shall then be in 
rebellion against the United States, and the fact that any State 
or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith repre- 
sented in the Congress of the United States by members chosea 
thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters 
of such States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of 
strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence 
that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion 
against the United States. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Com- 
mander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States ia 
time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and Gov 
ernment of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war 
measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of 
January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, 
publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days 
from the day of the first above-mentioned order, and designate, 
as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof 
respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States, 
the following to wit : Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, except the 
parishes of St, Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. 
Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, La- 
fourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City 
of New Orleans. Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, except the forty- 
eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the 
counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, 
York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth, and which excepted parts are, for the 
present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. 

"And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I 
do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said 
designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward 
Bhall be free ; and that the Executive Government of the 
United States, including the Military and Naval authorities 



LIFE AND SKKVICES OF ABRAHAM LI^COLN■. 135 

thereof, will recognize auJ maiutain the freedom of said 
persons. 

"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, 
to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence, and I 
recommend to tliem, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor 
faithfully for reasonable wages. , 

''And I further declare and make known that such persons of 
suitable condition will be received into the armed service of 
the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and 
other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

"And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, 
warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke 
the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor 
of Almighty God. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the City of VVashington, this first day of 
r -1 January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
L ■ ■-' hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of 
the United States of America the eighty-seventh. 
"By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 

" William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OP HABEAS 
CORPUS. 

On the twenty-fourth of September, 1862, two days 
after the promulgation of the renowned Emancipation Proc- 
lamation, the following order was published : 

" Whereas, It has become necessary to call into service, not 
only volunteers, but also portions of the militia of the State by 
draft, in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United 
States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by 
the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure, and 
from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the insurrection : 

" Now, therefore, be it ordered : 

" First. That during the existing insurrection, and as a ne- 
cessary measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insur- 
gents, their aiders and abettors, within the United States, and 
all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia 
drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and com- 
fort to the rebels against the authority of the United States, 
shall be subject to martial law, and liable to trial and punish- 
ment by courts-martial or military commissions. 

" Third. That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in re- 
spect to all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter du- 
ring the rebellion shall be imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, 
military prison, or other place of confinement, by any military 



136 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

authority or by the sentence of any court-martial or military 
commission. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
the seal of the United States to he affixed. 

" Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of 
September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States 
the eighty-seventh. 

" By the President. " Abraham Lincoln. 

" Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

The suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus was 
naturally obnoxious to Northern sympathizers with trea- 
son, and for some time their newspaper organs were daily 
filled with editorial and other articles, teeming with in- 
vidious criticism and abuse. The act placed more power 
in the hands of the President than was acceptable to men 
who, by their voice and pen, if not by their pecuniary 
means, were aiding and abetting the enemies of the country, 
and as they were not aware what moment they might be 
arrested and imprisoned for their despicable crimes, in 
their regard for their personal safety, they forgot their 
prudence, and abused the Executive. The beneficial ef- 
fects of the order were not over-estimated by Mr. Lincoln, 
and with its promulgation almost entirely ceased the in- 
teference with enlistments, which had too often before that 
date delayed the organization of regiments in some of the 
loyal States. 

THE SABBATH TO BE OBSERVED. 

On the sixteenth of November, 1862, the following 
order was issued to the soldiers and sailors of the Union : 

"The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, 
desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by 
the officers and men in the military and naval service. The im- 
portance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the 
Bacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailor§, a becoming defer- 
ence to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due 
regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in the 
lArmy aad Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 

" Tlio discipline and cliaracter of the National forces should 
not siitfi-r, nor the cans'_> they defend be imiierillod, by the pro- 
fanation of tlie day or nam" of the Most Ilifrh. 'At. this tim.' of 
public distress' adoptinjr the words of Washington in 1776, 
• lui'ii may tind enough to do in the service of God and their 
country without abanduniniif themselves to vice and immorality.' 
'I'lie first general ordi-r issued by tlie Father of his Country 
after the Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit in 
which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended : 
'The (Jeneral hopes and trusts that every officer and man will 
endeavor to live and act as becomes a Ciiristian soldier defend- 
ing the dearest rights and liberties of his country.' 

"Abraham Lincoln." 

HIS ANNUAL MESSAGE.— IMPORTANT RECOM- 
MENDATIONS TO CONGRESS. 

On the first of December, 1802, Mr. Lincoln sent in to 
Congress his annual message ; giving a satisfactory resumd 
of the events of the previous twelve months ; calling the 
attention of the Senators and Representatives to important 
matters which should receive their notice ; recommending 
the organization of national banking associations, under 
the hope and belief that they would be the means of pro- 
moting the early resumption of specie payments ; re-im- 
pressed upon them the importance of his plan of " compen- 
sated emancipation;" repeated at length his views upon 
the slavery question, and recommended the adoption of 
the following resolutions and articles amendatory to the 
Constitution : 

"Eesolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress asscml)led, two-thirds 
of biith houses concurrinsr, that the following' articles be pro- 
posed to the Legislatures or Conventions of the several Spates, 
as amendments to the (-oftstitution of the United States, all or 
any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said 
Leirislalures or Conventions, to be valid as part or parts of the 
said (Constitution, namely : 

"Article — . Every State wherein slavery now exists, which 
shall abolish the same therein at any time or times before the 
first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine 
hundred, shall receive compeusatioa from the United States as 
follows, to wit : 



138 LIFE AND SEKVICE3 OF ABRAHAM LI]NCOLN. 

" The President of the United States shall deliver to every 
such State, bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the 

rate of , for each slave shown to have been therein, by the 

eighth census of the United States; said bonds to be delivered 
to such State bj' instalments, or in one parcel at the completion 
of the abolishment, according as the same shall have been 
gradual or at one time within such State ; and interest shall 
begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its 
delivery as aforesaid, and afterward. Any State having received 
bonds as aforesaid, and afterward introducing or tolerating 
slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so 
received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon. 

"Article — . All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual free- 
dom, by the chances of the war at any time, before the end of 
the rebellion, shall be forever free ; but all owners of such, who 
shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them at 
the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment 
of slavery — but in such a way that no slave shall be twice 
accounted for. 

"Article — . Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise 
provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own con- 
sent, at any place or places without the United States." 

The message and its recommendations were received 
with the same eclat which has attended all the official 
documents penned by the illustrious statesman. The 
proclamation of September had awakened the people of 
the Union to the vast advantages to be derived from the 
adoption of his views and suggestions on every thing re- 
lating to slavery, and as the day on which the unfortunate 
blacks were to be rescued from a life of degradation ap- 
proached, thousands, who had hitherto protested against 
interference with the " peculiar institution," united with 
their old political opponents, and awaited anxiously the 
hour when the order of emancipation was to go into effect. 
Residents of foreign lands were no less eager for the time 
to arrive when the Federal Government should strike off 
the fetters of the slave, and among other complimentarj 
addresses sent to the President, was one from Manchester, 
England, from which we make the following extracts : 

"As citizens of Manchester, assembled at the Free-Trade 
Hall, we beg to express our fraternal sentiments toward you and 



LIFE AXD SKRVrCES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 139 

your country. "We rejoice in your greatness as an outgrowth 
of England, whose blood and language you share, whose orderly 
and legal freedom you have applied to new circumstances, over 
a region immeasurably greater than our own. We honor your 
Free States, as a singularly happy abode for the working mil- 
lions where industry is honored. One thing alone has, in the 
past, lessened our sympathy with your country and our confi- 
dence in it— we mean the ascendency of politicians who not 
merely maintained negro slavery, but desired to extend and root 
it more firmly. We joyfully honor you, as the President, and 
the Congress with you, for many decisive steps toward practi- 
cally exemplifying your belief in the words of your great 
founders: 'AH men are created free and equal.' You have 
procured the liberation of the slaves in the district around 
Washington, and thereby made the centre of your Federation 
visibly free. You have enforced the laws against the slave- 
trade, and kept up your fleet against it, even while every ship 
was wanted for service in your terrible war. You have nobly 
decided to receive embassadors from the negro republics of 
Hayti and Liberia, thus forever renouncing that unworthy 
prejudice which refuses the rights of humanity to men and 
women on account of their color. In order more effectually to 
stop the slave-trade, you have made with our Queen a treaty, 
which your Senate has ratified, for the right of mutual search. 
Your Congress has decreed freedom as the law forever in the 
vast unoccupied or half unsettled Territories which are directly 
subject to its legislative power. It has offered pecuniary aid to 
all States which will enact emancipation locally, and has for- 
bidden your generals to restore fugitive slaves who seek their 
protection. You have entreated the slave-masters to accept 
these moderate offers ; and after long and patient waiting, you, 
as Commander-in-chief of the Army, have appointed to-morrow, 
the first of January, 18G3, as the day of unconditional freedom 
for the slaves of the rebel States. We implore you, for your 
own honor and welfare, not to faint in your providential mission. 
While your enthusiasm is aflame, and the tide of events runs 
high, let the work be finished effectually. Leave no root of 
bitterness to spring up and work fresh misery to your children. 
It is a mighty task, indeed, to reorganize the industry not only 
of four millions of the colored race, but of five millions of 
whites. Nevertheless, the vast progress you have made in the 
short space of twenty months, fill us with hope that every 
stain on your freedom will shortly be removed, and that the 
erasure of that foul blot upon civilization and Christianity — 
chattle slavery — during your Presidency, will cause the name of 
Abraham Lincoln to be honored and revered by posterity." 

In answer to this flattering letter, Mr. Lincoln sent a 
happy response, in which he explained the motive which 



140 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

had prompted him to the undeviating course he has pur- 
sued since his inauguration. He had, he said, considered 
the duty of maintaining and preserving the Constitution 
and the integrity of the Federal Republic paramount to 
all others, and as a conscientious purpose to perform that 
duty was the key to all the measures of his administra- 
tion, he could not, if he would, under his oath and our 
frame of government, depart from that purpose. 

THE PRESIDENT VISITS THE ARMY OP THE 
POTOMAC. 

Early in April, 1863, the President left Washington on 
a visit to the Army of the Potomac. He had in the pre- 
vious year, when the same noble troops were resting at 
Harrison's Landing, after their campaign before Richmond, 
gone thither to observe for himself their true condition, 
and upon other occasions has visited their camping-grounds, 
where he has been always received with great enthusiasm. 
Upon the visit to which we now refer, he was accompanied 
by Mrs. Lincoln and one of his sons, and an eye-witness 
thus describes the proceedings incident to the entertain- 
ment of such distinguished guests : 

On the morning of April seventh, 1863, a reception was 
had in General Hooker's tent, the members of the staff pass- 
ing in and being introduced to the President by the Chief of 
Staff. Mr. Lincoln was in unusual good humor, and com- 
pletely banished the constraint felt by all by his sociability 
and shafts of wit. The interview lasted some time, much 
to the enjoyment of all, until finally the officers one by one 
dropped out, and the hour designated for the review ar- 
rived. Early in the morning the several cavalry brigades 
commenced moving towards the field selected for the re- 
view, and during the forenoon were engaged forming the 
lines and stationing guards to keep off the crowd. At 
noon the roar of artillery announced that the cortege had 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 141 

arrived. President Lincoln, mounted on a magnificent 
bay, adorned with heavy trappings, rode steadily and 
rapidly along the line, with Generals Hooker and Stone- 
man at his side, and followed by an imposing cavalcade 
of general officers, aides-de-camp and orderlies. Having 
returned to the right of the line, a position was selected for 
the President upon a slight eminence, while the cavalry at 
a walk passed in review befoi'e him, the bands playing 
and the bugles sounding merrily. ]Mrs. Lincoln occupied 
a carriage at the right of the President while the regi- 
ments passed in review, surrounded by major-generals and 
stars of lesser magnitude. After the cavalry had moved 
off the field, the lancers, in splendid order, wheeled around 
into line fronting the President, while the light artillery 
dashed at a gallop through the avenue thus formed, the 
guns and caissons bounding over the irregularities as 
though the wheels were of India rubber. The cannon 
were soon off the field, the lancers filed in behind the cav- 
alcade of generals, spectators vanished, and the plateau, 
torn and trodden by the squadrons, was left to the scatter- 
ing working parties engaged in preparing the ground for 
the grand review of infifintry. The President also rode 
over to the head-quarters of several commanding officers, 
and during the day reviewed the reserve artillery. 

Doubtless the lady readers are anxious to know iij 
what dress the wife of the Chief Magistrate visited the 
army, how she appeared, what she said, and how she liked 
the contrast — the Executive mansion, with its costly fur- 
niture, and the bare floor, cot and camp stools of the field. 
Mrs. Lincoln's attire was exceedingly simple — of that pe- 
culiar style of simplicity which creates at the time no im- 
pression upon the mind, and prevents one from remem- 
bering any article of dress. In this case there was nothing 
to attract attention, and after she had entered the tent 
there was not one in twenty of those gathered about who 



142 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

could tell what she wore. A rich black silk dress, with 
narrow flounces ; a black cape, with a broad trimming of 
velvet around the border, and a plain hat of the same hue, 
composed her costume. A shade of weariness, doubtless 
the result of her labors in behalf of the sick and wounded 
in "Washington, rested upon her countenance ; but the 
change seemed pleasant to her, and the scenes of camp 
were noted with evident interest. The President wore a 
dark sack overcoat and a fur muffler, while Master Lincoln 
sported a suit of gray, and rambled about among the tents, 
examining the quarters of the staff, and watched by the 
orderlies and sentries with a curiosity somewhat amusing, 

THE ENROLMENT ACT AND THE RIGHTS 
OF ALIENS. 

To enumerate all the proclamations which the President 
issued during the year 1863, would be impossible in this 
work, and we must therefore restrict ourselves to those 
which were of more than usual interest. The one in re- 
gard to the rights of aliens, under the act calling out the 
national forces, was one of these, and reads as follows : 

^'Whereas, The Congress of the United States at its last 
session enacted a law entitled, 'An act for enrolling and calling 
cut the national forces and for other purposes,' which was ap- 
proved on the third day of March last, and, 

" Whereas, It is recited in the said act that there now exists 
in the United States an insurrection and rebellion against the 
authority thereof, and it is, under the Constitution of the United 
States, the duty of the Government to suppress insurrection and 
rebellion, to guarantee to each State a republican form of gov- 
ernment, and to preserve the public tranquility, and 

" Whereas, For these high purposes a military force is indis- 
pensable, to raise and support which all persons ought willingly 
to coatribute ; and 

''MUiereas, No service can be more praiseworthy and honor- 
able than that which is rendered for the maintenance of the 
Constitution and the Union, and the consequent preservation 
of the Government ; and 

" JFJiereas, For the reasons thus recited, it was enacted by the 
said statute that all able-bodied male citizens of the United 
States and persons of foreign birth, who shall have declared ou 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 148 

oath their intentions to become citizens, under and in pursuance 
of the laws thereof, between the ages of twenty and forty-tve 
years, with certain exceptions not necessary to be here men- 
tioned, are declared to constitute the national forces, and shall 
be liable to perform military duty in the service of the United 
States, when called out by the President for that purpose ; 
and 

" Whereas, It is claimed, and in behalf of persons of foreign 
birth within the ages specified in said act who have heretofore 
declared on oath their intentions to become citizens under and 
in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and who have 
not exercised the right of suffrage or any other political fran- 
chise under the laws of the United States, or any of the States 
thereof, are not absolutely precluded by their aforesaid declara- 
tion of intention from renouncing their purpose to become 
citizens, and that, on the contrary, such persons under treaties 
or the law of nations, retain a right to renounce that purpose 
and to forego the privilege of citizenship and residence within 
the United States under the obligations imposed by the afore- 
said act of Congress. 

" Now, therefore, to avoid all misapprehensions concerning 
the liability of persons concerned to perform the service 
required by such enactment, and to give it full effect, I do 
hereby order and proclaim that no plea of alienage will be 
received or allowed to exempt from the obligations imposed by 
the aforesaid act of Congress, any person of foreign birth who 
shall have declared, on oath, his intention to become a citizen 
of the United States under the laws thereof, and who shall be 
found within the United States at any time during the con- 
tinuance of the present insurrection and rebellion, at or after 
the expiration of the sixty-five days from the date of this proc- 
lamation, nor shall any such plea of alienage be allowed in 
favor of any such person who has so as aforesaid declared his 
intention to become a citizen of the United States, and shall 
have exercised at any time the right of suffrage or any other 
political franchise within the United Slates, under the laws 
thereof, or under the laws of any of the several States. 

" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington, this eighth day of May, 
in the year of our Lord 1863, and of the independence of the 
United States the eighty-seventh. 

" By the President, "Abraham Lincoln. 

" William II Seward, Secretary of State." 

A NATIONAL THANKSGIVING ORDERED. 

On the fifteenth day of Julj, 186.3, the President or- 
3flred the sixth o** th» following month to be set apart as 



114 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

a day of National Thanksgiving. A^ictories had crowned 
our arms on land and sea, and no greater cause for offer- 
ing thanks to the Almighty ever prompted the Chief Mag- 
istrate of a country to call the people together, and few 
proclamations were ever written more chaste and beauti- 
ful than the following : 

" It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications 
and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the army 
and the navy of the United States, on the land and on the sea, 
victories so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable 
grounds for augmented confidence that the union of these States 
•will be maintained, their constitutions preserved, and their peace 
and prosperity permanently preserved. 

'■ "B"jt these victories have been accorded not without sacrifice 
of li-fe, limb and liberty, incurred by the brave, patriotic and 
loyal citizens. Domestic affliction in every part of the country 
folio Jvs in the train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet 
and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty 
Father, and the power of His hand equally in these triumphs 
and these sorrows. 

" Now, therefore, be it known, that I do set apart Thursday, 
the sixth day of August next, to be observed as a day for na- 
tional Thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, and I invite the people of 
the United States to assemble on that occasion in their custom- 
ary places of worship, and in the forms approved by their own 
conscience, render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for 
the wonderful things He has done in the nation's behalf, and 
invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger 
which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel re- 
bellion ; to change the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the 
counsels of the government with wisdom adequate to so great a 
national emergency, and to visit with tender care and consola- 
tion throughout the length and breadth of our land all those 
who through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles and 
sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body or estate and 
family, to lead the whole nation through paths of repentance 
and submission to the Divine Will, back to the perfect enjoy- 
ment of Union and fraternal peace. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

"Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of July, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred aud sixty- 
three, and of the independence of the United States of America 
the eighty-eighth. "Abkaham Lincoln. 

" By the President : 

" William H. Seward, Secrdary of State." 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLX. 145 

LETTER EROM THE PRESIDENT ON THE 
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

The following letter, writteu in Aiigust, 18()3, in answer 
to an invitation to attend a meeting of unconditional Union 
men held in Illinois, gives at length the President's views 
at that time on his Emancipation proclamation : 

"Executive Mansion-, Washington; Atigust 26th, 1863. 
"My Dear Sir: — Your letter inviting me to attend a mass 
meeting of unconditional Union men, to be held at tlie capitol 
of Illinois on tlie third day of September, has been received. It 
would be very agreeable to me thus to meet my old friends at 
my own home ; but 1 cannot just now be absent from this city 
80 long as a visit there would require. The meeting is to be of 
all tliose who maintain unconditional devotion to the Union ; 
and I am sure that my old political friends will thank me for 
tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble 
men whom no partisan malice or parlisan hope can make false 
to the nation's life. There are those who are dissatisfied with 
me. To such I would say : — You desire peace, and you blame 
me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? There 
are but three conceivable ways: — First, to suppress the rebel- 
lion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for 
it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If. you are not for it, a 
second way is to give up the Union. I am against this. If you 
are, you should say so, plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet 
for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compro- 
mise. I do not believe that any compromise embracing the 
maintenance of the Union is now possible. All that 1 learn 
leads to a directly opposite belief. The strength of the rebel- 
lion is its military — its army. 'I'hat army dominates all the 
country and all the people within its range. Any offer of any 
terms made by any man or men within that range in opposition 
to that army is simply nothing for the present, because such 
man or men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a 
compromise, if one were made with them. To illustrate: Sup- 
pose refugees from the South and peace men of the North get 
together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise 
embracing the restoration of the Union. In what way can that 
com]ironiise be used to keep General Leo's army out of Pcnn- 
syivania? General Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of 
Pennsylvania, and I think can ultimately drive it out of ex- 
istence. But no paj)er compromise to which the controllers of 
General Tree's army are not agreed, can at all affect that army. 
In an cflbrt at such compromise we would waste'time which the 
enemy would improve to our disad vantage, and that would be 
all. A compromise, to bo efifective, must bo mude either wit^ 



146 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

those who control the rebel army, or with the people, first liber- 
ated from the domination of that army by the success of our 
army. Now, allow me to assure you that no word or intimation 
from the rebel army, or from any of the men controlling it, in 
relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my know- 
ledge or belief. All charges and intimations to the contrary 
are deceptive and groundless. And I promise you that if any 
such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected 
and kept secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself to be 
the servant of the people, according to the bond of service, the 
United States constitution ; and that, as such, I am responsible 
to them. But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about 
the negro. Quite likely there is a difierence of opinion between 
you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all 
men could be free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet I have 
neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is not consist- 
ent with even your view, provided you are for the Union. I 
suggested compensated emancipation, to which you replied that 
you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I have not 
asked you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way as to 
save you from greater taxation, to save the Union exclusively 
by other means. 

"You dislike the emancipation proclamation, and perhaps 
would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I 
think differently. I think that the constitution invests its com- 
mander-in-chief with the law of war in time of war. The most 
that can be said, if so much, is, that the slaves are property. 
Is there, has there ever been, any question that by the law of 
war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when 
needed ? And is it not needed whenever taking it helps us or 
hurts the enemy ? Armies, the world over, destroy enemies' prop- 
erty when they cannot use it; and even destroy their own to 
keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their 
power to help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few 
things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are 
the massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and 
female. But the proclamation, as law, is valid or is not valid. 
If it is not valid it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot 
be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. 
Some of you profess to think that its retraction would operate 
favorably for the Union. Why better after the retraction than 
before the issue? There was more than a year and a half of 
trial to suppress the rebellion before the proclamation was is- 
sued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an ex- 
plicit notice, that it was coming unless averted by those in 
revolt I'eturning to their allegiance. The war has certainly 
progressed as favorably for us since the issue of the proclamation 
as before. I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others, 
that some of the commanders of our armies in the field, who 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 147 

have given ns our most important victories, believe the emanci- 
pation policy and the aid of colored troops constitute the 
heaviest blows yet dealt to the rebellion, and that at least one 
of those important successes could not have been achieved when 
it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the command- 
ers holding these views are some who have never had any atfinity 
with what is called abolitionism or with ' republican party 
politics.' — But who hold them purely as military opinions. I 
submit their opinions as being entitled to some weight against 
the objections often urged that emancipation and arming the 
blacks are unwise as military measures, and were not adopted 
as such in good faith. You say that you will not fight to free 
negroes. Some of them seem to be willing to fight for you — 
but no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively to save the Union. 
I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving the 
Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to 
the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an 
apt time then for you to declare that you will not fight to free 
negroes. I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to 
whatever extent the negroes should cease helping the enemy, to 
that extent it weakened the enemy in his resistance to you. D" 
you think differently? I thought that whatever negroes can be 
got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for white soldiers 
to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you? 
But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should 
they do any thing for ns if we will do nothing for'them? If 
they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the 
strongest motive, even the promise of freedom. And the prom- 
ise, being made, must be kept. The signs look better. The 
Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea. Thanks to 
the great North-west for it. Not yet wholly to them. Three 
hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone and 
Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The Sunny South, too, 
in more colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot their 
part of the history was jotted down in black and white. The 
job was a great national one, and let none be banned who boro, 
an honorable part in it ; and, while those who have cleared the 
great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard 
to say that any thing has been more bravely and better done than 
at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of 
less note. Nor must Uncle Sam's webtieet be forgotten. At 
all the waters' margins they have been present: — not only on 
the deep sea. the broad bay and the rapid river, but also up the 
narrow, muddy bayou ; and wherever the ground was a little 
damp they have been and made their tracks. Thanks to all. 
For the great republic — for the principles by which it lives and 
keeps alive — for man's vast future — thanks to all. Peace does 
not appear so far distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, au<i 
come to stay : and so come as to be worth the keeping iu all fut"r« 



148 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. 

time. It ■will then have bren proved that among freemen there 
can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and 
tliat they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and 
pay the cost. And then there vvill be some black men who can 
remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and 
steady eye, and well poised bayonet, they have helj)ed mankind 
on to this great consummation; while 1 fear that there will be 
some white men unable to forget that with malignant heart and 
deceitful speech they have striven to hinder it. Still let us not 
be over sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us be quite 
sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that 
a just God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful re- 
Bult. Yours very truly, "A. Lincoln." 

During September and October, 1863, the following* proc- 
lamations were published : 

SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OP HABEAS 
CORPUS IN CERTAIN CASES. 

" Washington, Sept. 15th, 1863, 

"Whereas, the Constitution of the United States has ordained 
that 'the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus- 
pended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public 
safety may require it ;' and 

" Whereas, a rebellion was existing on the third day of March, 
1863, which rebellion is still existing ; and 

" Whereas, by a statute which was approved on that day, it 
was enacte(i by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States in Congress assembled, that during the present 
insurrection the President of the United States, whenever in his 
judgment the public safety m.ay require, is authorized to suspend 
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout 
the United States, or any part thereof; and 

" Whereas, in the judgment of the President the public safety 
does require that the privilege of the said writ shall now be sus- 
pended throughout the United States in cases where, by the au- 
thority of the President of the United States, military, naval and 
civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons 
under their command or in their custody, either as prisoners of 
war, s])ies, or aiders or. abettors of the enemy, or officers, sol- 
diers, or seamen enrolled, drafted or mustered or enlisted in or 
belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, or as 
deserters therefrom, or otherwise amenable to military law, or t» 
the Rules and Articles of War, or to the rules and regulations 
prescribed for the military or naval service by the authority of 
the President of the United States, or for resisting a draft, or 
for any other offence against the military or naval service : 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 149 

" Now, therefore, 1, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, do hereby proclaim and make known to all whom it may 
concorn, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is sus- 
pended throughout tlio Unitod States in the several cases before 
mentioned, and that the suspension will continue throughout the 
duration of the said rebellion ; or until this proclamation shall by 
a subsequent one, to be issued by the President of the United 
States, be modified and revoked. And I do hereby require all 
magistrates, attorneys and other civil officers within the United 
States, and all officers and others in the military and naval 
services of the United States, to take distinct notice of this sus- 
pension, and give it full effect ; and all citizens of the United 
States to conduct and govern themselves accordingly and in con- 
formity with the Constitution of the United States and the laws 
of Congress in such cases made and provided. 

" In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, this fifteenth 
day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United 
States of America the eighty-eighth. 

" Abraham Lincoln. 

" By the President : 

" William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

NATIONAL THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 

" The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with^ 
the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these 
bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to 
forget the source from which they come, others have been added, 
which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to 
penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible 
to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. 

" In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and 
severity, whicli has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke tha 
aggression of foreign States, peace has been preserved with all 
nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected 
and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in 
the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been 
greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the' 
Union. 

"The needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields 
of peaceful industry to the national defence have not arrested 
the plough, the shuttle or the ship. The axe has enlarged the 
borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron ajid 
coal as of the precious metals, have yielded evi>n mi^re abun- 
dantly than heretofore. Populatipn has steadily increased, not- 
withstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the 
«iege and the battle-field ; and the country, rejoicing in the con- 



150 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

sequences of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to ex- 
pect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. 

" No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand 
worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of 
the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our 
Bins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. 

" It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be 
solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one 
heart and voice by the whole American people ; I do, therefore, 
invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and 
also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign 
lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November 
next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent 
Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to 
them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for 
such singular deliverances and blessings ; they do also, with 
humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, 
commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, 
orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife ia 
■which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the 
interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the 
nation and to restore it. as soon as may be consistent with the 
Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tran- 
quillity, and union. 

" In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington this third day of October, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- 
eighth. " Abraham Lincoln. 

■' By the President: 

"William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

We have shown, in the first pages of this volume, that 
the early instruction of Abraham Lincoln was of that re- 
ligious character which could not fail to have a proper 
effect upon his after life, and it is not therefore surprising 
that during his Presidential career he has embraced every 
opportunity to publicly acknowledge the source from 
whence have come all the blessings the people of the 
Union have received during the progress of the civil war ; 
and the unanimity with which his numerous requests for 
a general Thanksgiving have been acquiesced in, can but 
be gratifying to their author. 



I.IFB AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 151 



THEEE HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE MEN 
CALLED FOR. 

" Whereas, The term of service of part of the volunteer forces 
of the United States will expire during the coming year ; and 
whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it is 
deemed expedient to call out three hundred thousand volunteers, 
to serve for three years or the war — not, however, exceeding 
three years. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy 
thereof, and of the militia of the several States when called into 
actual service, do issue this my proclamation, calling upon tho 
Governors of the diB'erent States to raise aud have enlisted into 
the United States service, for the various companies and regi- 
ments in the field from their respective States, their quotas of 
three hundred thousand men. 

" I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and 
duly enlisted shall ruceive advance pay, premium and bounty, as 
heretofore communicated to the Governors of States by the 
"War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's office, 
by special letters. 

" I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this 
call, as well as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly 
credited and deducted from the quotas established for the next 
draft. 

" I further proclaim that, if any State shall fail to raise the 
quota assigned to it by the War Department under this call ; 
then a draft for the deficiency in said quota shall be made iii 
said State, or on the districts of said State, for their due pro- 
portion of said quota, and the said draft shall commence on the 
fifth day of January, 1864. 

"And I further proclaim that nothing in this proclamation 
shall interfere with exi.«ting orders, or with those which may be 
issued for the present draft in the States where it is now in pro- 
gress or where it has not yet been commenced. 

"The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by 
the War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's 
office, due regard being had for the men heretofore furnished, 
whether by volunteering or drafting, and the recruiting will be 
conducted in accordance with such instructions as have been or 
may be issued by that department. 

" In issuing this proclamation I address myself not only to 
the Governors of the several States, but also to the good and 
loyal people thereof, invoking them to lend their cheerful, will- 
ing and effective aid to the measures thus adopted, with a view 
to reinforce our victorious armies now in the field and bring our 
needful military sperations to a prosperous end, thus closing 
forever the fountains of sedition aud civil war. 



(t 



1^2 LirE AND SEEVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

" In witness whereof I have liereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the Uniti^d States to be alhxcd. 

" Done at the city of Washington, this seventeenth day of 
October, in the year of our liOrd one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States 
the eighty-eighth. "Abraham Lincoln 

" By the President : 

" Wm. il. Seward, Secretary of Slate." 

THE PRESIDENT'S DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT 
GETTYSBURG. 

On the nineteenth of November, 1863, the President par- 
ticipated in the solemn and imposing ceremonies incident to 
the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. 
Arriving in the town on the previous evening, he was the 
recipient of a delightful serenade, which he acknowledged 
in a brief speech. On the next day ho delivered the fol- 
lowing beautiful Dedicatory Address : 

" Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth 
upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that 
nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long 
endure. AVe are met on a great battle-field of that war. We 
are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of 
those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It 
is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

" But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot conse- 
crate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living 
and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our 
power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long 
remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they 
did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to 
the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. 
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remain- 
ing before us — that from these honored dead we take increased 
devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full mea- 
sure of devotion, — that we here highly resolve that the dead shall 
not have died in vain, that the nation shall, under God, have a 
new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by 
the J eople, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 

On the seventh of December, 1863, the following recom- 
mendation was made to the people of the country : 



LIFE AND SERVICES Or ABRAHAM LINCOLN. l^S 

" Executive Manston. Wasiiixoton', Dec. 1th, 18G3. — Reliable 
information beii.^ received ihiit the insurgent force is retreating 
from East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it probable 
that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from that 
important position, and estecMTiing this to be of high National 
consequence, I recommend that all loyal people do, on the re- 
ceipt of this, informally assemble at their places of worship, and 
render special homage and gratitude to Almigiily G-od for this 
great advancement of the National cause. "A. Lincoln." 

THE ANNUAL MESSAGE OF 1863— FULL PAR- 
DON OFFERED TO THE REBELS. 

On the ninth of December, 1863, President Lincoln sent 
into Congress his Annual Message, and never were his wis- 
dom and moderation more satisfactorily exhibited than in 
this document. His review of our foreign relations and the 
operations of the various departments of the Government 
was comprehensive and clear, while on the subject of the 
rebellion he re-affirmed all that he had written in his pre- 
vious messages, and in referring to the success which had 
attended the proclamation of emancipation, he said : 
" While I remain in my present position, I shall not at- 
tempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation ; 
nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by 
the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of 
Congress." 

Accompanying the Message, was a proclamation offering 
for the acceptance of the traitors a fair and practicable mode, 
by which they might return to their allegiance, and once 
again become loyal citizens. It was worded as follows : 

"TT7icrpas, Tn and by the Constitution of the United States, 
it is ])rovid(Ml that the President 'siiall have power to grant re- 
prieves and pardons for offences against the United States, ex- 
cept in cases of impeachment;" and 

''Whereas, A rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State 
governments of several States have for a long time been sub- 
verted, and many persons have committed and are now guilty 
of treason against the United States; and 

" Whereas, With reference to said rebellion and treason, laws 
have been enacted by Congress, declaring forfeitures and con- 



jiM LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLW. 

fiscatious of property and liberation of slaA'es, all upon terms 
and conditions therein stated, and also declaring that the Presi- 
dent was thereby authorized at any time thereafter, by proclama- 
tion, to extend to persons who may have participated in the ex- 
isting rebellion in any State, or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, 
■with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions 
as he may deem expedient for the public welfare ; and 

"Whereas, The Congressional declaration for limited and 
conditional pardon accords with well-established judicial ex- 
position of the pardoning power ; and 

"Whereas, With reference to said rebellion, the President of 
the United States has issued several proclamations, with pro- 
visions in regard to the liberation of slaves ; and 

" Whereas, It is now desired by some persons heretofore en- 
gaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United 
States, and to re-inaugurate loyal State governments within and 
for their respective States ; 

" Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persona 
who have, directly or by imjilication, participated in the exist- 
ing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon 
is hereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration of 
all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases 
■where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the 
condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an 
oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate ; 
and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, 
and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit : 

" ' I , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, 

that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the 
Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States 
thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faith- 
fully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing 
rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not re- 
pealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the 
Supreme Court ; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and 
faithfully support all proclamations of the President made du- 
ring the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long 
and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the 
Supreme Court. So help me God.' 

" The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing 
provisions are all who are or shall have been civil or diplomatic 
officers or agents of the so-called Confederate Government; all 
who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid 
the rebellion; all who are or shall have been military or naval 
officers of said Confederate Government above the rank of 
Colonel in the army or of Lieutenant in the navy; all who left 
seats in the United States Congress to aid the rebellion ; all 
who resigned their commissions in the army or navy of the United 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 155 

States and afterwards aided the rebellion, and all who have en- 
ea-'ed'in any way, in treating colored persons or white persons, 
in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully, as prisoners of war, 
and which persons may be found in the United States service, 
as soldiers, seamen, or in any other capacity. 

"And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that 
whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, 
Mississippi. Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Caro- 
lina and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than 
one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such State at the Presi- 
dential election of the year of our Lord 1860. each having taken 
the oath aforesaid and not having since violated it, and being a 
qualified voter by the election law of the State existing imme- 
diately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all 
others shall re-establish a State government which shall be Re- 
publican, and in nowise contravening said oath, such shall be 
reco<rnized as the true government of th^ State, and the State 
shalf receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional pro- 
vision which declares that ' the United States shall guarantee 
to every State in this Union a Republican form of government, 
and shall protect each of them against invasion ; and, on appli- 
cation of the Legislature, or the executive (when the Legisla- 
ture cannot be convened), against domestic violence ' 

"And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that 
any provision which may be adopted by such State Government 
in relation to the freed people of such State, which shall recog- 
nize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their 
education, and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary ar- 
rangement, with their present condition as a laboring, landless 
and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National 
Executive. And it is suggested as not improper, that, in con- 
structing a loyal State government in any State, the name of 
the State, the boundary, the subdivisions, the Constitution, and 
the general code of laws, as before the rebellion, be maintained, 
subject only to the modifications made necessary by the condi- 
tions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if any, not contra- 
vening said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by 
those framing the new State Government. • 

" To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that tbi8 
proclamation, so far as it relates to State Governments has 
no reference to States wherein loyal State Governments have 
all the while been maintained. And for the same reason, it may 
bo proper to further say, that whether members sent to Congress 
from any State shall be admitted to seats constitutionally, rests 
exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent 
with the Executive. And still further, that this proclamation 
is intended to present the people of the States wherein the 
National authority has been suspended, and loyal State Govern- 
ments have been subverted, a mode in and by which the Na- 



-156 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

tional authority and loyal State Governments may be re-estab- 
lished within said States, or in any of them ; and, M'hile the 
mode presented is the best the Executive can suggest, with his 
present impressions, it must not be understood that no other 
possible mode would be acceptable. 

" Given under my hand at the City of Washington, the eighth 
day of December, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
three, and of the Independence of the United States of America 
the eighty-eighth. 

"By the President : "Abraham Lincoln. 

" Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

CALLS MADE FOR SEVEN HUNDRED 
THOUSAND MEN. 

Since the beginning of the present year, 1864, two orders 
have been issued by the President, with a view of augment- 
ing the armies of the Union to correspond with the require- 
ments of the service. The first, dated February first, is as 
follows : 

" ExKCUTivE Mansion, Washington, February 1st, 1864. — • 
Ordered, that a draft for five hundred thousand men, to serve 
three years, or during the war, be made on Ihe tenth of March 
next, for the military service of the United States, crediting and 
deducting therefrom so many as have been enlisted or drafted 
into the service prior to the first day of March, and not hereto- 
fore credited. 

" (Signed) "Abraham Lincoln." 

The other, dated March fourteenth, was worded as fol- 
lows : 

"Executive Mansion, Washington, March \Mh, 1864. — In 
order to supply the force required to be drafted for the navy, and to 
pravide an adequate reserve force for all contingencies, in addition 
to the five hundred thousand men called for February 1st, 1864, the 
call is hereby made, and a draft ordered for two hundred thou- 
sand men, for the military service of the army, navy, and marine 
corps of the United States. The proportionate quotas for the 
difl'erent wards, towns, townships, y^recincts, election districts, 
or counties will be made known through the Provost Marshal 
General's bureau, and account will be taken of the credits and 
deficiencies on former quotas. The 15th day of April, 1864, is 
designated as the time up to which the numbers required in each 
ward of a city, town, etc., ijiay be raised by voluntary eulist- 
(uent \ and drafts will be made in each ward of a city, town, 



1 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 157 

etc., which shall not have filled the quota assi^motl to it within 
the time designated fur the number required to fill tlie said 
quotas. The draft will be commenced as soon -alter the l.oth of 
April as practicable. 'I'lie Government bounties, as now paid, 
will be continued until April l.^th, 18G4, at which time the ad- 
ditional bounties cease. On and after that date, one hundred 
dollars only will be paid, as provided by the act approved July 
22nd, 1861. "Abraham Lincoln. 

•' Official. "E. D. TowNSEND, A. A. O. " 

EXPLANATORY PROCLAMATION. 

On the twenty-sixth of March, 1864, the following proc- 
lamation, explanatory of the one issued on the eighth of 
December, 1863, was published : 

" Whereas, It has become necessary to define the cases in 
•which insurgent enemies are entitled to the benefits of the 
Proclamation of the President of the United States, Avhich was 
made on the 8th day of December, 1863, and tiie manner in which 
they shall proceed to avail themselves of these benefits ; 

"^??d whereas, The object of that proclamation were to sup- 
press the insurrection and to restore the authority of the United 
States ; 

"A7ul whereas, The amnesty therein proposed by the Presi- 
dent was offered wit^ reference to these objects alone ; 

" Now, therefore, \, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the said proclama- 
tion does not apply to the cases of persons who, at the time when 
they seek to obtain the benefits thereof, by taking the oath thereby 
prescribed, are in military, naval or civil confinement or custody, 
or under bonds or on parole of the civil, military or naval au- 
thorities or agents of the United States, as prisoners of war, or 
persons detained for offences of any kind, either before or after 
conviction ; and that on the contrary, it does apply only to those 
persons who, being at large and free from any arrest, confine- 
ment or duress, shall voluntarily come forward and take the said 
oath, with the purpose of restoring peace and establishing the 
national authority. 

" Prisoners excluded from the amnesty offered in the said 
proclamation may apply to the President for clemency, like all 
other offenders, and their application will receive due cou- 
Bideration. 

" I do further declare and proclaim that the oath prescribed 
in the aforesaid proclamation of the 8th of Decemi)er, 186:5, 
may be taken and subscribed to before any commanding officer, 
civil, military or naval, in the service of the United Slates, or 
any civil or military officer of a State or territory not in insur- 
rection, who, by the laws thereof, may be quaUtied for adminis- 
tering oaths. 



158 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

"All officers who receive such oaths are hereby authorized to 
give certificates thereon to the persons respectively by whom 
they are made, and such officers are hereby required to transmit 
the original records of such oaths at as early a day as may be 
convenient to the Department of State, where they will be de- 
posited and remain in the archives of the government. 

" The Secretary of State will keep a register thereof, and will, 
on application, in proper cases, issue certificates of such records 
in the customary form of official certificates. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-sixth day of 
March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States 
the eighty-eighth. 

"By the President: "Abraham Lincoln. 

" Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

REVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT'S POLICY. 

In the number of the North American Review for 
January, 1864, a most able article was published, review- 
ing the policy of President Lincoln, and from it we make 
the following extracts : 

"'Bare is back,' says the Norse -proverb, 'without 
brother behind it ;' and this is, by analogy, true of an 
elective magistracy. The hereditary ruler in any critical 
emergency may reckon on the inexhaustible resources of 
•prestige, of sentiment, of superstition, of dependent inter- 
est, while the new man must slowly and painfully create 
all these out of the unwilling material around him, by 
superiority of character, by patient singleness of purpose, 
by sagacious presentiment of popular tendencies and in- 
stinctive sympathy with the national character. Mr. Lin- 
coln's task was one of peculiar and exceptional difficulty. 
Long habit had accustomed the American people to the 
notion of a party in power, and of a President as its crea- 
ture and organ, while the more vital fact, that the execu- 
tive for the time being vrepresents the abstract idea of 
government as a permanent principle superior to all party 
and all private interest, had gradually become unfamiliar. 
They had so long seen the public policy more or less 



LIFE AXn SERVIJES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 159 

directed by views of parly, and often even of personal ad- 
vantage, as to be ready to suspect the motives of a chief 
magistrate compelled, for the first time in our history, to 
feel himself the head and hand of a great nation, and to act 
upon the fundamental maxim, laid down by all publicists, 
tiiat the first duty of a government is to defend and main- 
tiiin its own existence. Accordingly, a powerful weapon 
seemed to be put into the hands of the opposition by the 
necessity under which the administration found itself of 
applying this old truth to new relations. They were not 
plow in turning it to use, but the patriotism and common- 
sense of the people were more than a match for any 
sophistry of mere party. The radical mistake of the lead- 
ers of the opposition was in forgetting that they had a 
countr}^ and expecting a similar obliviousness on the part 
of the people. In the undisturbed possession of office for 
so many years, they had come to consider the government 
as a kind of public Gift Enterprise conducted by them- 
selves, and whose profits were nominally to be shared 
among the holders of their tickets, though all the prizes 
had a trick of falling to the lot of the managers. Amid 
the tumult of war, when the life of the nation was at stake," 
when the principles of despotism and freedom were grap- 
pling in deadly conflict, they had no higher conception of 
the crisis than such as would serve the purpose of a con- 
tested election ; no thought but of advertising the tickets 
for the next drawing of that private speculation which 
they miscalled the Democratic party. But they were too 
little in sympathy with the American people to under- 
stand them, or the motives by which they were governed. 
It became more and more clear that, in embarrassing the 
administration, their design was to cripple the country; 
that, by a strict construction of the Constitution, they 
meant nothing more than the locking up of the only 
arsenal whence effective arms could be drawn to defend tho 
nation. Fortunately, insincerity bv its very niiture, by 
10 



160 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX, 

its necessary want of conviction, must crc long betray 
itself by its inconsistencies. It was hard to believe that 
men had any real horror of sectional war, who were busy 
in fomenting jealousies between East and West ; that they 
could be in favor of a war for the Union as it was, who 
were for accepting the violent amendments of Rebellion ; 
that they could be heartily opposed to insurrection in the 
South, who threatened government with forcible resistance 
in the North ; or that they were humanely anxious to stay 
the effusion of blood, who did not scruple to stir up the 
mob of our chief city to murder and arson, and to compli- 
ment the patriotism of assassins with arms in their hands. 
Believers, if they believed any thing, in the divine right 
of Sham, they brought the petty engineering of the caucus 
to cope with the resistless march of events, and hoped to 
stay the steady drift of the nation's purpose, always set- 
ting deeper and stronger in one direction, with the scoop- 
nets that had served their turn so well in dipping fish from 
the turbid eddies of politics. They have given an example 
of the shortest and easiest way of reducing a great party 
to an inconsiderable faction. 

" The change which .three years have brought about, is 
too remarkable to be passed over without comment — too 
weighty in its lesson not to be laid to heart. Never did 
a President enter upon office with less means at his com- 
mand, outside his own strength of heart and steadiness of 
understanding, for inspiring confidence in the people, and 
so winning it for himself, than Mr. Lincoln. All that was 
known of him was that he was a good stump-speaker, 
nominated for his availahility — that is, because he had no 
history — and chosen by a party with whose more extreme 
opinions he was not in sympathy. It might well be feared 
that a man past fifty, against whom the ingenuity of hos- 
tile partisans could rake up no accusation, must be lacking 
in manliness of character, in decision of principle, in 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 161 

strength of will, — that a man who was at best only the 
representative of a party, and who yet did not fairly re- 
present even that — would fail of political, much more of 
popular support. And certainly no one ever entered upon 
office with so few resources of power in the past, and so 
many materials of weakness in the present, as Mr. Lin- 
coln. Even in that half of the Union which acknowledged 
him as President, there was a large, and at that time dan- 
gerous minority, that hardly admitted his claim to the 
office, and even in the party that elected him there was 
also a large minority that suspected him of being secretly 
a communicant with the church of Laodicea. All that he 
did was sure to be virulently attacked as ultra by one side ; 
all that he left undone, to be stigmatized as proof of luke- 
warmncss and backsliding by the other. Meanwhile he 
was to carry on a truly colossal war by means of both ; he 
was to disengage the country from diplomatic entangle- 
ments of unprecedented peril undisturbed by the help or 
the hinderance of either, and to win from the crowning 
dangers of his administration, in the confidence of the 
people, the means of his safety and their own. He has 
contrived to do it, and perhaps none of our Presidents 
since Washington has stood so firm in the confidence of 
the people as he does after three years of stormy admin- 
istration. 

" Mr. Lincoln's policy was a tentative one, and rightly 
so. He laid down no programme which must compel 
him to be either inconsistent or unwise — no cast-iron 
theorem to which circumstances must be fitted as they 
rose, or else be useless to his ends. He seemed to have 
chosen Mazarin's motto, Le temps et moi. The moi, to 
be sure, was not very prominent at first ; but it has grown 
more and more so, till the world is beginning to be per- 
suaded that it stands for a character of marked individu- 
ality and capacity for afi"airs. Time was his prime-min- 



162 LIFE AND SEKYICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

ister, and, we began to think at one period, bis general- 
in-chief also. At first he was so slow that he tired out 
all those who see no evidence of progress but in blowing 
up the engine ; then he was so fast, that he took the 
breath away from those who think there is no getting on 
safely while there is a spark of fire under the boilers. God 
is the only being who has time enough ; but a prudent 
man, who knows how to seize occasion, can commonly 
make a shift to find as much as ho needs, Mr. Lincoln, 
as it seems to us in reviewing his career, though we have 
sometimes in our impatience thought otherwise, has al- 
ways waited, as a wise man should, till the right moment 
brought up all his reserves. Semper nocuit differre par- 
atis is a sound axiom, but the really efficacious man will 
also be sure to know when he is not ready, and be firm 
against all persuasion and reproach till he is. 

" One would be apt to think, from some of the criticisms 
made on Mr. Lincoln's course by those who mainly agree 
with him in principle, that the chief object of a statesman 
should be rather to proclaim bis adhesion to certain doc- 
trines than to achieve their triumph by quietly accom- 
plishing his ends. In our opinion, there is no more unsafe 
politician than a conscientiously rigid doctrmaire, nothing 
more sure to end in disaster than^a theoretic scheme of 
policy that admits of no pliability for contingencies. True, 
there is a popular image of an impossible He, in whose 
plastic hands the submissive destinies of mankind become 
as wax, and to whose commanding necessity the toughest 
facts yield with the graceful pliancy of fiction ; but in real 
life we commonly find that the men who control circum- 
stances, as it is called, are those who have learned to 
allow for the influence of their eddies, and have the nerve 
to turn them to account at the happy instant. Mr. Lin- 
coln's perilous task has been to carry a rather shackly 
raft through the rapids, making fast the unrulier logs as 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF AliliAUAM LINCOLN. 163 

he could snatch opportunity ; and the country is to be 
congratulated that he did not think it his duty to run 
straight at all hazards, but cautiously to assure himself 
with his setting-pole whore the main current was, and 
keep steadily to that. He is still in wild water, but we 
have faith that his skill and sureness of eye will bring him 
out right at last. 

" A curious, and, as we think, not inapt parallel might 
be drawn between Mr. Lincoln and one of the most 
striking figures in modern history — Henry lY. of France. 
The career of the latter may be more picturesque, as thai 
of a daring captain always is ; but, in all its vicissitudes,, 
there is nothing more romantic th^ that sudden change, 
as by a rub of Aladdin's lamp, from the attorney's office 
in a country town of Illinois to the helm of a great nation 
in times like these. The analogy between the characters 
and circumstances of the two men is, in many respects, 
singularly close. Succeeding to a rebellion rather than a 
crown, Henry's chief material dependence was the Hugue- 
not party, whose doctrines sat upon him with a looseness 
distasteful certainly, if not suspicious, to the more fanati- 
cal among them. King only in name over the greater 
part of France, and with his capital barred against him, 
it yet gradually became clear to the more far-seeing even 
of the Catholic party, that he was the only centre of order 
and legitimate authority round which France could re- 
organize itself. While preachers who held the divine 
right of kings made the churches of Paris ring with decla- 
mations in favor of democracy rather than submit to tlve 
heretic dog of a B-^arnois — much as our soi-disant Demo- 
crats have lately been preaching the divine right of 
slavery, and denouncing the heresies of the Declaration 
of Independence — Henry bore both parties in hand till he 
was convinced that only one course of action could pos- 
sibly combine his own interests and those of France 



16i LIFE AlSiD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Meanwhile the Protestants believed somewhat doubtfully 
that he was theirs, the Catholics hoped somewhat doubt- 
fully that he would be theirs, and Henry himself turned 
aside remonstrance, advice, and curiosity alike with a 
jest or a proverb, (if a little high, he liked them none the 
worse,) joking continually, as his manner was. We have 
seen Mr. Lincoln contemptuously compared to Sancho 
Panza by persons incapable of appreciating one of the 
deepest pieces of wisdom in the profoundest romance ever 
written — namely, that, while Don Quixote was incompa- 
rable in theoretic and ideal statesmanship, Sancho, with 
his stock of proverbs, the ready-mont-y of human experi- 
ence, made the best possible practical governor. Henry 
IV. was as full of wise saws and modern instances as Mr. 
Lincoln, but beneath all this was the thoughtful, practi- 
cal, humane, and thoroughly earnest man, around whom 
the fragments of France were to gather themselves till 
she took her place again as a planet of the first magnitude 
in the European system. In one respect Mr. Lincoln was 
more fortunate than Henry. However some may think 
him wanting in zeal, the most fanatical can find no taint 
of apostasy in any measure of his, nor can the most bitter 
charge him with being influenced by motives of personal 
interest. The leading distinction between the policies of 
the two is one of circumstances. ^ Henry went over to 
the nation ; Mr. Lincoln has steadily drawn the nation 
over to him. One left a united France ; the other, we 
hope and believe, will leave a re-united America. We 
leave our readers to trace the further points of difference 
and resemblance for themselves, merely suggesting a gen- 
eral similarity which has often occurred to us. One only 
point of melancholy interest we will allow ourselves to 
touch upon. That Mr. Lincoln is not handsome nor ele- 
gant, we learn from certain English tourists who would 
consider similar revelations in regard to Queen Victoria 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LI^'COLN. 165 

as thoroughly American in their want of bienseance. It 
is no concern of ours, nor does it affect his fitness for the 
high place he so worthily occupies ; but he is certainly 
jis fortunate as Henry in the matter of good looks, if we 
may trust contemporary evidence. Mr. Lincoln has also 
been reproached with Americanism by some not unfriendly 
British critics ; but, with all deference, we cannot say 
ihat we like him any the worse for it, or see in it any 
veason why he should govern Americans the less wisely. 

" The most perplexing complications that Mr. Lincoln's 
government has had to deal with have been the danger 
•of ruptare with the two leading commercial countries of 
Ifiurope, and the treatment of the slavery question. In 
regnrd to the former, the peril may be considered as 
nearly past, and the latter has been withdrawing steadily, 
ever since the war began, from the noisy debating-ground 
of faction to the quieter region of practical solution by 
v:onvincingness of facts and consequent advance of opinion 
which we are content to call Fate. 

" Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet con- 
finced of the danger and magnitude of the crisis, w^as en- 
deavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities at the 
South, and to carry on a war that was half peace in the 
hope of a peace that would have been all war, — while he 
was still enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law, under some 
theory that Secession, however it might absolve States 
from their obligations, could not escheat them of their 
claims under the Constitution, and that slaveholders in 
rebellion had alone among mortals the privilege of having 
their cake and eating it at the same time, — the enemies of 
free government were striving to persuade the people 
that the war was an Abolition crusade. To rebel with- 
out reason was proclaimed as one of the rights of man, 
while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress 
rebellion is the first duty of government. All the evils 



166 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

that have come upon the country have been attributed to 
the Abolitionists, though it ishard to see how any party 
can become permanently powerful except in one of two 
ways, — either by the greater truth of its principles, or the 
extravagance of the party opposed to it. To fancy the 
ship of state, riding safe at her constitutional moorings, 
suddenly engulfed by a huge kraken of Abolitionism, 
rising from unknown depths and grasping it with slimy 
tentacles, is to look at the natural history of the matter 
with -the eyes- of Pontoppidan. To believe that the 
leaders in the Southern treason feared any danger from 
Abolitionism, would be to deny them ordinary intelli- 
gence, though there can be little doubt that they mado 
use of it to stir the passions and excite the fears of their 
deluded accomplices. They rebelled, not because they 
thought slavery weak, but because they believed it strong 
enough, not to overthrow the government, but to get pos- 
session of it ; for it becomes daily clearer that they used 
rebellion only as a means of revolution, and if they got 
revolution, though not in the shape they looked for, is the 
American people to save them from its consequences at 
the cost of its own existence ? The election of Mr. Lin- 
coln, which it was clearly in their power to prevent bad 
they wished, was the occasion merely, and not the cause, 
of their revolt. Abolitionism, till within a year or two, 
was the despised heresy of a few earnest persons, without 
political weight enough to carry the election of a parish 
constable ; and their cardinal principle was disunion, be- 
cause they were convinced that within the Union the 
position of slavery was impregnable. In spite of the 
proverb, great effects do not follow from small causes,— 
that is, disproportionately small, — )>ut from adequate 
causes acting under certain required conditions. To con- 
trast the size of the oak with that of the parent acorn, as 
if the poor seed 'had paid all costs from its slender strong' 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 167 

box, may serve for a child's wouder ; but the real miracle 
lies in that divine league which bound all the forces of 
nature to the service of the tiny germ in fulfilling its 
destiny. Every thing has been at work for the past ten 
years in the cause of antislavery, but Garrison and 
Phillips have been far less successful propagandists than 
the slaveholders themselves, with the constantly-growing 
arrogance of their pretensions and encroachments. They 
have forced the question upon the attention of every voter 
in the Free States, by defiantly putting freedom and de- 
mocracy on the defensive. But, even after the Kansas 
outrages, there was no wide-spread desire on the part of 
the North to commit aggressions, though there was a 
growing determination to resist them. The popular 
unanimity in favor of the war three years ago was but in 
small measure the result of antislavery sentiment, far less 
of any zeal for abolition. But every month of the war, 
every movement of the allies of slavery in the Free 
States, has been making Abolitionists by the thousands. 
The masses of any people, however intelligent, are very 
little moved by abstract principles of humanity and jus- 
tice, until those principles are interpreted for them by the 
stinging commentary of some infringement upon their own 
rights, and then their instincts and passions, once aroused, 
do indeed derive an incalculable reinforcement of impulse 
and intensity from those higher ideas, those sul)lime tra- 
ditions, which have no motive political force till they are 
allied with a sense of immediate personal wrong or im- 
minent peril. Then at last the stars in their courses be- 
gin to fight against Siscra. Had any one doubted before 
that the rights of human nature are unitary, that oppres- 
sion is of one hue the world over, no matter what the 
color of the oppressed, — had any one failed to see what 
the real essence of the contest was, — the efforts of the ad- 
vocates of slavery among ourselves to throw discredit upon 



168 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

the fundamental axioms of the Declaration of Independence 
and the radical doctrines of Christianity, could not fail to 
sharpen his eyes. This quarrel, it is plain, is not between 
Northern fanaticism and Southern institutions, but be- 
tween downright slavery and upright freedom, between 
despotism and democracy, between the Old World and 
the New. 

" The progress of three years has outstripped the ex- 
pectation of the most sanguine, and that of our arms, 
great as it undoubtedly is, is trifling in comparison with 
the advance of opinion. The great strength of slavery 
was a superstition, which is fast losing its hold on the 
public mind. When it was first proposed to raise negro 
regiments, there were many even patriotic men who felt 
as the West Saxons did at seeing their high priest hurl 
his lance against the temple of their idol. They were sure 
something terrible, they knew not what, would follow. 
But the earth stood firm, the heavens gave no sign, and 
presently they joined in making a bonfire of their bugbear. 
That we should employ the material of the rebellion for its 
own destruction, seems now the merest truism. In the same 
way men's minds ai-e growing wonted to the thought of 
emancipation ; and great as are the difficulties which must 
necessarily accompany and follow so vast a measure, we 
have no doubt that they will be successfully overcome. 
The point of interest and importance is, that the feeling of 
*our country in regard to slavery is no whim of sentiment, 
but a settled conviction, and that the tendency of opinion 
is unmistakably and irrevocably in one direction, no less 
in the Border Slave States than in the Free. The chances 
of the war, which at one time seemed against us, are now 
greatly in our favor. The nation is more thoroughly 
united against any shameful or illusory peace than it ever 
was on any otherquestion, and the very extent of the ter- 
ritory to be subdued, which was the most serious cause of 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 169 

misgiving, is no longer an element of strength, but of dis- 
integration, to the conspiracy. The Rebel leaders can 
make no concessions ; the country is unanimously resolved 
that the war shall be prosecuted, at whatever cost ; and if 
the war go on, will it leave slavery with any formidable 
strength in the South ? and without that, need there be any 
fear of effective opposition in the North ? 

" While every day was bringing the people nearer to the 
conclusion which all thinking men saw to be inevitable 
from the beginning, it was wise in Mr. Lincoln to leave 
the shaping of his policy to events. In this country, 
where the rough and ready understanding of the people 
is sure at last to be the controlling power, a profound 
common-sense is the best genius for statesmanship. 
Hitherto the wisdom of the President's measures has 
been justiQed by the fact that they have always resulted 
in more firmly uniting public opinion. It is a curious 
comment on the sincerity of political professions, that the 
party calling itself Democratic should have been the last 
to recognize the real movement and tendency of the 
popular mind. The same gentlemen who two years ago 
were introducing resolutions in Congress against coercion, 
are introducing them now in favor of the war, but against 
subjugation. Next year they may be in favor of emanci- 
pation, but against abolition. It does not seem to have 
occurred to them that the one point of difference between 
a civil and a foreign war is, that in the former, one of the 
l)artics must by the very nature of the case be put down, 
and the other left in possession of the government. Un- 
less the country is to be divided, no compromise is possible, 
and, if one side must yield, shall it be the nation or the 
conspirators ? A government may make, and any wise 
government would make, concessions to men who have 
risen against real grievances ; but to make them in favor 
of a rebellion that had no juster cause than the persoaal 



170 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN", 

• ambition of a few bad men, would be to abdicate. 
Southern politicians, however, have always been so 
dexterous in drawing nice distinctions, that they may 
find some consolaiion inappreciable by obtuser minds in 
being coerced instead of subjugated. 

"If Mr. Lincoln continue to act with the firmness and 
prudence which have hitherto distinguished him, we think 
he has little to fear from the efforts of the opposition. 
Men without sincere convictions are hardly likely to have 
a well-defined and settled policy, and the blunders they 
havo hitherto committed must make them cautious. If 
their personal hostility to the President be unabated, we 
may safely count on their leniency to the opinion of 
majorities, and the drift of public sentiment is too strong 
to be mistaken. They have at last discovered that there 
is such a thing as Country, which has a meaning for 
men's minds and a hold upon their hearts; they may 
make the further discovery, that this is a revolution that 
has been forced on us, and not merely a civil war. In 
any event, an opposition is a wholesome thing ; and we 
are only sorry that this is not a more wholesome opposi- 
tion. 

" We believe it is the general judgment of the country 
on the acts of the present administration, that they have 
been, in the main, judicious and well-timed. The only 
doubt about some of tlieni seems to be as to their cou- 
stitutionality. It has been sometimes objected to our 
furm of government, that it was faulty in having a writ- 
ten constitution which could not adapt itself to the needs 
of the time as they arose. But we think it rather a 
theoretic than a practical objection ; for in point of 
fact there has been hardly a leading measure of any 
administration that has not been attacked as uncon- 
stitutional, and which was not carried nevertheless. 
Purchase of Louisiana, Embargo, Removal of the De- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 171 

posits, Annexation of Texas, not to speak of others less 
important, — on the unconstitutionality of all these, power- 
ful parties have appealed to the country, and invariably 
the decision has been against them. The will of the 
people for the time bciog has always carried it. In the 
present instance, we purposely refrain from any allusion 
to the moral aspects of the question. AVe prefer to leave 
the issue to experience and common-sense. Has any sane 
man ever doubted on which side the chances were in this 
contest ?, Can any sane man who has watched the steady 
advances of opinion, forced onward slowly by the im- 
mitigable logic of facts, doubt what the decision of the 
people will be in this matter ? The Southern conspira- 
tors have played a desperate stake, and, if they bad won, 
would have bent the whole policy of the country to the 
interests 'of slavery. Filibustering would have been 
nationalized, and the slave-trade re-established as the most 
beneficent form of missionary enterprise. But if they 
lose ? They have, of their own choice, put the chance 
into our hands of making this continent the empire of a 
great homogeneous population, substantially one in race, 
language, and religion, — the most prosperous and power- 
ful of nations. Is there a doubt what the decision of a 
victorious people will be ? If we were base enough to 
decline the great commission which Destiny lays on us, 
should we not deserve to be ranked with those dastards 
whom the stern Florentine condemns as hateful alike to 
God and God's enemies ? 

"We would not be understood as speaking lightly of the 
respect due to constitutional forms, all the more essential 
under a government like ours and in times like these. But 
where undue respect for the form will lose us the substance, 
and where the substance, as in this case, is nothing less 
than the country itself, to bo over-scrupulous would be' 
unwise. Who are most tender in their solicitude that we 



172 LIFE AM) SKliVICEd OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

keep sacred the letter of the law, in order that its spirit 
may not keep us alive ? Mr. Jefferson Davis and those 
who, in the Free States, would have been his associates, 
but must content themselves with being his political 
guerilleros. If Davis had succeeded, would he have had 
any scruples of constitutional delicacy ? And if he has 
not succeeded, is it not mainly owing to measures which 
his disappointed partisans denounce as unconstitutional ? 

" We cannot bring ourselves to think that Mr. Lincoln 
nas done any thing that would furnish a precedent dan- 
gerous to our liberties, or in any way overstepped the 
just limits of his constitutional discretion. If his course 
has been unusual, it was because the danger was equally 
so. It cannot be so truly said that he has strained his 
prerogative, as that the imperious necessity has exercised 
its own. Surely the framers of the Constitution never 
dreamed that they were making a strait waistcoat, in 
which the nation was to lie helpless while traitors w^ero 
left free to do their will. In times like these, men seldom 
settle precisely the principles on which they shall act, but 
rather adjust those on which they have acted to the lines 
of precedent as well as they can after the event. This is 
what the English Parliament did in the Act of Settlement, 
Congress, after all, will only be called on for the official 
draft of an enactment, the terms of which have been 
already decided by agencies beyond their control. Even 
while they are debating, the current is sweeping them 
onward toward new relations of policy. At worst, a new 
precedent is pretty sure of pardon, if it successfully meet 
a new occasion. It is a harmless pleasantry to call Mr. 
Lincoln ' Abraham the First,' — we remember when a 
similar title was applied to President Jackson ; and it 
will not be easy, we suspect, to persuade a people who 
have more liberty than they know what to do with, that 
they are the victims of despotic tyianny. 



LIFE A^'L> ;:EliVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 173 

" Mr. Lincoln probably thought it more convenient, to 
say the least, to have a country left without a constitution, 
than a constitution without a country. We have no doubt 
we shall save both ; fur if we take care of the one, the 
other will take care of itself. Sensible men, and it is the 
sensible men in any country who at last shape its policy, 
will be apt to doubt whether it is true conservatism, after 
the fire is got under, to insist on keeping up the flaw in 
the chimney by which it made its way into the house. 
Radicalism may be a very dangerous thing, and so is 
calomel, but not when it is the only means of saving the 
life of the patient. Names are of great influence in ordi- 
nary times, when they are backed by the vis inertice of 
life-long prejudice, but they have little power in com- 
parison with a sense of interest ; and though, in peaceful 
times, it may be highly respectable to be conservative 
merely for the sake of being so, though without very 
clear notions of any thing in particular to be conserved, 
what we want now is the prompt decision that will not 
hesitate between the bale of silk and the ship M'hen a leak 
is to be stopped. If we succeed in saving the great land- 
marks of freedom, there will be no difficulty in settling our 
constitutional boundaries again. "We have no sympathy 
to spare for the pretended anxieties of men who, only two 
years gone, were willing that Jefferson Davis should 
break all the ten commandments together, and would 
now impeach Mr. Lincoln for a scratch on the surface of 
the tables where they are engraved." 

As soon as the publication was received and read by 
the President, he sent to the publishers the following 
letter : 

" Executive Maxston, "Washington, January \Uh, 1864. 
"Messrs. Crosby §- Nichols : 

" Gentlemen : The number for this month and year of the 
North Artierican Revie^o was duly received and for which please 
accept my thanks. Of course I am not the most impartial 



174 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

judge ; yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that 
the article entitled 'The President's Policy' will be of value 
to the country. I fear I am not quite worthy of all which ia 
therein kindly said of me personally. 

" The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at the top of page 
252, (which in this book is on page 165,) I could wish to be not 
exactly as it is. In what is there expressed the writer has not 
correctly understood me. I have never had a theory that seces- 
sion could absolve States or people from their obligations. Pre- 
cisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural address; and it 
was because of my belief in the continuation of those ohlignHons 
that I was puzzled, for a time, as to denying the legal rights of 
those citizens who remained individually innocent of treason or 
rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call atteu- 
tioQ to this point. 

" Yours respectfully, 

"A. Lincoln." 

The sentence referred to by Mr. Lincoln, is as follows : 
" Even so long ago as w^hen Mr. Lincoln, not yet con- 
vinced of the danger and magnitude of the crisis, was 
endeavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities at 
the South, and to carry on a war that was half peace, in 
the hope of a peace that would have been all war, while 
he was still enforcing the Fugitive Slave law, under 
some theory that secession, however it might absolve 
States from their obligations, could not escheat them of 
their claims under the constitution, and that slaveholdera 
in rebellion had alone among mortals, the privilege of 
having their cake and eating it at the same time, — tho 
enemies of free government were striving to persuade the 
people that the w^ar was an abolition crusade. To rebel 
without reason was proclaimed as one of the rights of man, 
while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress 
rebellion is the first duty of government." 

KECENT ADDRESSES OP MR. LINCOLN. 

On the night of the eighteenth of March, 18G4, at the 
close of the successful fair held in the Patent Office at 
"Washington, Mr. Lincoln spoke as follows : 

''Ladies and Gentlemen : — I appear, to say but a word. This 



LIFE AND SEKYICES OF ABRAHAM LTNCOLX. 175 

extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all 
classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldier. For it 
has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life ; and, 
while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life 
at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The high- 
est merit, then, is due to the soldier. 

"In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have 
manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former 
wars ; and among these manifestations nothing has been more 
rcmarkal)le than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers 
and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the 
women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of the 
language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying 
compliments to women ; but I must say that, if all that has been 
said by orators and poets, since the creation of the world, in 
praise of womea were applied to the women of America, it would 
not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will 
close by saying, God bless the women of America I" (Great 
applause.) 

Three days later, a committee appointed by the Work- 
ingmea's Democratic Republican Association of New 
York waited on the President, and presented him with an 
address informing him that he had been elected a member 
of that organization. After the chairman had stated the 
object of the visit, Mr. Lincoln made the following reply : 

"Geyidemen of the Committee : — The honorary membership in 
vour Association so generously tendered is gratefully accepted. 
Vou comprehend, as your address shows, that the existing re- 
bellion means more and tends to more than the perpetuation of 
African slavery — that it /r., in fact, a war upon the rights of all 
working people. Partly to show that the view has not escaped 
my attention, and partly that I cannot better express myself, I 
read a passage from the message to Congress in December, 1861 : 

" ' It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if 
not exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popular Gov- 
ernment — the rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this 
is found in the most grave and nmturely-considered public docu- 
ments, as well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In those 
documents we find the abridgement of the existing right of suf- 
frage, and the denial to the pe()i)le of all right to participate in 
the selection of public officers, except the legislative body, boldly 
advocated with labored arguments, to prore that large control 
of the people in government is the source of all political evil. 
Monarchy is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the 
power of the people. In my present posilion, I could scarcely 
11 



176 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

be justified were I to omit raising my voice against this approach 
of returning despotism. 

" ' It is not needed or fitting here that a general argument 
should be made in favor of popular institutions ; but there is one 
point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to 
which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital 
on an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of 
the Government. It is assumed that labor is available only in 
connection with capital ; that nobody labors unless somebody 
else owning capital somehow, by use of it,' induces him to labor, 

" ' This assumed, it is next considei'cd whether it is best that 
capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their 
own consent, or buy them and drive them to it without their 
consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded 
that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. 
And, further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer 
is fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no such relation 
between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such 
thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a 
hired laborer. Both of tiicte assumptions are false, and all infer- 
ences from them are groundless. 

" ' Labor is prioi' to and independent of capital. Capital is 
only the fruit of labor, and never could have existed if labor had 
not first existed. Labor is the support of capital, and deserves 
much tlie higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which 
are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied 
that there is, and probably always will Ije, a relation between 
labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in 
assuming that the whole labor of a community exists within that 
relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor 
themselves, and with that capital hire or buy another few to 
labor for them. 

"'A large majority belong to neither class — neither work 
for others nor have others working lor them. In most of the 
Southern States a majority of the whole people, of all colors, 
are neither slaves nor masters, while, in the Northern States, a 
large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their 
families — wives, sons, and daughters — work for themselves on 
their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole 
product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the 
one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is 
not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their 
own labor with capital — that is, they labor with their own hands 
and also buy or hire others to labor for them ; but this is only a 
mixed and not a distinct class. No.princii)le stated is disturbed 
by the existence of this mixed class. 

" 'Again. As has already been said, there is not of necessity 
any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that con- 
dition for life. Many independent men everywhere in these 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 177 

States, a few years back in their lives, were hired laborers. The 
prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages a while, 
saves a surplus with which to buy tools or lands for himself, then 
labors on. his own account another while, and at length hires 
another new beginner to help him. This is the just, and gener- 
ous, and prosperous system which opens the way to all — gives 
hope to all, and consecpient energy, and progress, and improve- 
ment to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than 
those who toil up from poverty — none less inclined to take or 
touch aught with which they have not honestly earned. Let 
them beware of surrendering a political power which they already 
possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close 
the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new 
disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be 
lost.' • 

"The views then expressed remain unchanged — nor have I 
much to add. None are so deeply interested to resist the 
present i-£bellion as the working people. Let them beware of 
prejudices working disunion and hostility among themselves. 
The most notable feature of a disturbance in your city last sum- 
mer was the hanging of some working people by other working 
people. It should never be so. The strongest bond of human 
sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting 
all working people, of all nations, tongues, and kindreds. Nor 
should this lead to a war upon property on the owners of prop- 
erty. Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; 
is a positive good in the world. 'J'hat some should be rich, 
shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encourage- 
ment to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless 
pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and 
Guild one for himself; thus, by example, assuring that his own 
shall be safe from violence when built." 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN THE CHOICE OP THE 
PEOPLE FOR ANOTHER TERM. 

Within the past few months, a niovcnient has been in 
])vogress thronghout the North and West, which can but 
l»e as gratifying to Abraham Lincoln as it is pleasing to 
the great mass of the loyal voters of the country. 

No President ever encountered the same difficulties 
which lia've met the present incumbent of the " White 
House" at every step he has taken since the day of hi-s 
inauguration. The traitors in the South have naturally 
.opposed every important order he lias issued; have ridi- 



178 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

culed every proclamation he has promulgated ; have criti- 
cised and saeered at every message he has written ; and 
have vilified and maligned the character of their author. 
This was to be expected ; but there have been traitors at 
the North who have been no less bittei*, no less strenuous 
in their opposition ; but, under the guidance of Divine 
Providence, he has been able to repel ^he assaults of both 
of these classes of unprincipled advocates of treason ; and, 
strong in his holy purpose to rescue the country from the 
machinations of its enemies, he has continued steadfast in 
the path of official duty. He may have made some mis- 
takes, but they have been few, and it must be remembered 
that even those which have been more particularly re- 
ferred to by his opponents were caused, not by ignorance, 
but by the exigencies of the occasion, which compelled 
him to give an important answer, or issue an important 
order, without being allowed the time for reflection which 
the magnitude of the subject demanded. 

The importance, indeed the absolute necessity, of re- 
taining Mr. Lincoln in his present exalted position, is now 
the popular belief, and from every loyal Commonwealth 
come tidings, pronouncing in language which cannot be 
mistaken, that he alone is deemed the proper person to 
rescue the country from its present danger. The Legis- 
latures of fifteen States have declared that he is their 
choice and the choice of their constituents. Union 
Leagues, Conventions, and public assemblies of different 
political characters, have indorsed the decision of their 
legislative bodies ; and the loyal people almost unani- 
mously approve of the action which has again brought 
Mr. Lincoln prominently forward as the best and only 
man to nominate and elect to. the Presidency. He has 
been tried, and not found wanting, and no better return 
for the perils encountered, the labors accomplished, and 
the benefits derived to the country, could be offered, than 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 179 

his re-nomination and re-election, both of which arc now 
ahnost as certain as that the Union Convention will assem- 
ble at Baltimore in June next, and that the election will 
be held in November, Maine, New Hampshire, Connec- 
ticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Mary- 
land, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minne- 
sota, Kansas, and California, have spoken, and, at the 
advent of the summer solstice, the other States will re- 
echo the popular sentiments, as so emphatically expressed 
by their sister Commonwealths. He is no longer the rep- 
resentative of any particular political party, but comes 
before the loyal voters of the country as an indefatigable, 
incorruptible, public servant, whose multiform and per- 
plexing duties have been faithfully performed, and who 
has no other ambition than to so administer the affairs of 
the nation as will be most conducive to its welfare. 
Throughout his Presidential career he has never failed 
to prove himself equal to any emergency that might oc- 
cur. To use the words of a pati'iotic Philadelphian, even 
in the darkest hour of our struggle, when every thing 
seemed lost, and the feeling of despondency with regard 
to the future was so great that those who had been con- 
fident before lost all hope, he who was at the helm of 
Government still maintained his self-command and a firm 
reliance in an overruling Providence, which, in duo time, 
would order all things aright. Coolness, confidence, and 
courage, are only valuable when they are needed ; and he 
who has passed through ordeals in which the possession 
of such qualities have been manifested, in no ordinar}' de- 
gree, obtains a hold on the confidence of the world which 
but few are fortunate enough to secure ; men of extraor- 
dinary abilities, lacking these qualities, have, on great and 
trying occasions, too ql'ten demonstrated their incapacity 
for supreme command, like that which belongs to the head 
of a great government. Considerations such as these will 



180 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

make the people loth to part with one who, in the hour of 
trial, has proved himself equal to the emergency. 

As an evidence of the sentiment to which we have re- 
ferred, we publish the following resolutions, unanimously 
adopted by the Union League of Philadelphia, on the 
eleventh of January, 18G4 : 

^'\Yhereas, The skill, courage,'' fidelity and integrity with 
■wbicli, in a period of unparalleled trial, Abraham Lincoln has 
conducted tlie administration of the National Government, have 
■\voii for him the highest esteem and the most affectionate regard 
of his grateful countrymen ; 

^'And whereas, 'I'he confidence which all loyal men repose in 
his honesty, his wisdom and his patriotism, should be proclaimed 
on every suitable occasion, in order that his hands may be 
strengthened for the important work he has yet to perform ; 

"-4nd whereas, 'Y\\q Union League of rhiladelpliia, composed 
as it is, of those who, having formerly belonged to various 
parties, in this juncture recognize no party but their ^country ; 
and representing, as it does, all the industrial, mechanical, man- 
ufacturing, commercial, financial, and professional interests 
of the city, is especially qualified to give, in this behalf, an 
unbiased and authentic utterance to the public sentiment ; 
therefore, 

^'Resolved, That to the prudence, sagacity, comprehension 
and perseverance of Mr. Lincoln, under the guidance of a benign 
Providence, the nation is more indebted for the grand results of 
the war, which southern rebels have wickedly waged against 
liberty and the Union, than to any other single instrumentality; 
and that he is justly entitled to whatever reward it is in the 
power of the nation to bestow. 

"lle.solved, That we cordially approve of the policy which 
Mr. Lincohi has adopted and pursued, as well the principles he 
has announced as the acts he has performed, and that we shall 
continue to give an earnest and energetic support to the doc- 
trines and measures by which his administration has thus far 
been directed and illustrated. 

"Eesolvedi That as Mr. Lincoln has had to endure the largest 
share of the labor required to suppress the rebellion, now 
rapidly verging to its close, he should also enjoy the largest 
share of the honors which await those who have contended for 
the right ; and as, in all respects, he has shown pre-eminent 
ability in fulfilling the requirements of his great office, we recog- 
nize with pleasure the unmistakable indications of the popular 
will in all the loyal States, and heartily join with our fellow- 
citizens, without any distinction of party, here and elsewhere, in 
presenting him as the People's candidate for the Presidency at 
the approaching election. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 181 

"Resolved, That a Committee of Seventy-six be appointed, 
whose duty it shall be to promote the object now proposed, by 
correspondence with other loyal organizations, by stimulating 
the expression of public opinion, and by whatever additional 
modes shall, in their judgment, seem best adapted to the end; 
and that this Committee have power to supply vacancies in 
their own body and to increase their numbers at their own dis- 
cretion. 

"liesolved, That a copy ff these proceedings, properly en- 
grossed and attested, be f( warded to President Lincoln ; and 
that they also be published ia the loyal newspapers." 

GENERAL GRANT MADE A LIEUTENANT- 
GENERAL. 

On the 2d of March, 1864, President Lincoln approved 
a bill passed by Congress on the 26th of February, revi- 
ving the grade of Lieutenant-General, and the same day he 
nominated for that high office Major-General Grant, the 
hero of Yieksburg, and on the same day the Senate unan- 
imously confirmed the nomination. On the 9th of March, 
General Grant, being upon official business at Washington, 
was invited to the White House, where the President, 
handing him his commission, addressed him as follows : 

" General Grant : — The expression of the nation's approba- 
tion of what you have already done, and its reliance on you for 
what remains to do in the existing great struggle, is now pre- 
sented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral of the Army of the United States. 

" With this high honor devolves on you an additional respon- 
sibiUty. As the country herein trusts you, so. under God, it 
will sustain you. I scarcely need add, that with what I here 
speak for the country, goes my own hearty personal concur- 
rence." 

General Grant accepted the commission with character- 
istic modesty, responding briefly and appropriately to the 
remarks of the President. 

A VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR. 

In May, 1864, the President had approved the plans of 
Lieutenant-General Grant ; and the grand combinations 
of the latter, looking to the breaking up of the Confederate 



182 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

power, and the fall of Richmond, were put in motion. 
Sherman was at work in the South-west, and after taking 
and destroying Atlanta, he designed marching directly 
through the heart of Georgia, making Savannah his first 
objective point; and then, striking northward, he was to 
compel the evacuation of Columbia, Charleston, and Wil- 
mington, and co-operate with General Grant in the 
conquest of the rebel capital. Thomas was left in the 
South-west to check, and if possible, destroy Hood and 
Johnston ; while Grant, aided by the splendid genius and 
fighting qualities of Meade, Sheridan, and Hancock, were 
operating in the immediate vicinity of Richmond. The 
plans were finally all carried out almost to the letter, and 
General Grant telegraphed to the President, in May, that 
he " proposed to fight it out on this line if it took all sum- 
mer." These vast military operations, and the confidence 
of the great mass of the people in the fidelity of the Pres- 
ident, and in the skill of his generals, promoted a great 
degree of confidence in the speedy ending of the war, with 
an unconditional restoration of the authority of the Union. 

MR. LINCOLN IS HE-NOMINATED FOR THE 
PRESIDENCY. 

On the 7th of June, 18G4, the National Union Conven- 
tion met at Baltimore. The re-nomination of Mr. Lincoln 
for President of the United States was clearly foreshad- 
owed, and the formal naming of him as the choice of the 
people for a second term iu his high office, was looked for 
as a matter of course. He was re-nominated by acclama- 
tion, and Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who, like him- 
self, was a self-made man, was nominated for the \^ice- 
Presidency. The platform of principles adopted by the 
convention was brief and pithy. We transfer some per- 
tinent extracts to our pages. 



LIFK AND SEKVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 183 

" Resolved, Tha,i it is tlie hij^liest duty of every American citi- 
zen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the 
Union and the paramount authority of the Constitution and 
laws of the United States ; and that, laying aside all differences 
of political opinion, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated 
liy a common sentiment, and aiming at a common object, to do 
every thing in our power to aid the Government in quelling by 
force of arms the relK'llion now raging against its authority, and 
in bringing to the ])unishment due to their crimes, the rebels 
and traitors arrayed against it. 

'•Resolved, That we ap])rove the determination of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States not to compromise with rebels, 
nor to olfer any terms of ])eace except such as may be based 
upon an "unconditional surrender' of their hostility and a re- 
turn to their jusL allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the 
United States, and that we call upon the Government to main- 
tain this position and to prosecute the war with the utmost 
f)ossible vigor to the complete suppression of the Rebellion, in 
ull reliance upon the self-sacrifice, the patriotism, the heroic 
valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to their 
country and its free institutions. 

"Resolved, That, as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes 
the strength, of this rebellion, and as it must be always and 
everywhere hostile to the principles of republican government, 
justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete 
extirpation from the soil of the republic ; and that we uphold 
and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Govern- 
ment, in its own defence, has aimed a death-blow at this gigan- 
tic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment 
to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity 
with its provisions, as shall terminate ana forever prohibit the 
existence of Slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of the 
United States. 

"Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wis- 
dom, the imselfish patriotism, and unswerving fidelity to the 
Constitution and the principles of American liberty, with which 
Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of un- 
paralleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the 
presidential oflBce ; that we approve and indorse, as demanded 
by the emergency, and essential to the preservation of the 
nation, and as within the Constitution, the measures and acta 
which he has adopted to defend the nation against its open and 
secret foes ; that we approve especially the Proclamation of 
Emancipation, and the employment as Union soldiers of men 
heretofore held in Slavery ; and that we have full confidence in 
his determination to carry these and all other constitutional 
measures essential to the salvation of the country into full and 
complete effect." 



184 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

On the 29th of August of the same year, the Democratic 
Convention met at Chicago, and nominated George B. 
McClellan and George H. Pendleton as its banner bearers. 
General McClellan being named for the Presidency and 
Mr. Pendleton for the Yiee-presidency. The platform of 
the party, as laid down by this convention, set forth, 
among other things, the following : 

"Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly declare, as 
the sense of the American people, that after four years of fail- 
ure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during 
which, under the pretence of a military necessity of a war 
power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has 
been disregarded in every part, and publ.^, liberty and private 
right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the 
country essentially impaired ; justice, humanity, liberty, and the 
public Avelfare, demand that immediate efforts be made for a 
cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate Convention 
of all the States, or other peaceable means to the end that at 
the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the 
basis of the Federal Union of the States." 

General McClellan, in his letter of acceptance to the 
committee appointed by the Convention to notify him of 
his nomination, virtually ignored the portion of the plat- 
form given above, and he urged a vigorous prosecution of 
the war. Much dissatisfaction in the Democratic party 
grew out of the diflferenees between the sentiments ex- 
pressed by the platform and those of the principal candi- 
date placed upon it, and for a time it seemed as though 
the party would be wrecked in advance upon the rock of 
these differences. Some of the leading peace men of the 
party refused to support General McClellan, while the 
War democracy denounced the platform in unmeasured 
terms. 

To use an expression of General McClellan's, the cam- 
paign was " short, sharp, and decisive," and the candidates 
of both parties came in for a liberal share of abuse and 
ridicule. 



LIFK AND SKRVICKS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLX. Ibo 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN VISITS PHILADELPHIA. 

A series of monster fairs was held, in 1S64, in the prin- 
cipal cities of the Union, fur the purpose of aiding the funds 
of the United States Sanitary Commission. Philadelphia 
held her great fair in June, and on the sixteenth of the 
month, the President and Mrs. Lincolp, paid a visit to the 
fair buildings, in Logan square. There was a huge crowd 
present for the purpose of gazing upon the features of their 
beloved Chief Magistrate. After a collation had been 
partaken of, Mr. Lincoln made a characteristic address. 
In speaking of the war, he said : 

" "War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its 
magnitude and its duration, is one of the most terrible. It has 
deranged business, totally in many localities, and partially in all 
localities. It has destroyed property, and ruined homes; it has 
produced a national debt and taxation unprecedented, at least 
in this country. It has carried mourning to almost every home, 
Tintil it can almost be said that the ' heavens are hung in black.' 
********* 

"It is a pertinent question, often asked in the mind pri- 
vately, and from one to the other, ' when is the war to end ?' 
Surely I feel as deep an interest in this question as any other 
can, but I do not wish to name a day, or month, or a year when 
it is to end. I do not wish to run any risk of seeing the time 
come, without our being ready for the end. and for fear of dis- 
appointment because tlie time had come, and not the end. We 
accepted this war for an object, a worthy object, and the war 
will end when that object is attained. Under God, I hope it 
never will until that time. [Great cheering.] Speaking of the 
present campaign, Gen. Grant is reported to have said, 'I am go- 
ing through on this line if it takes all summer!' [Cheers.] 
This war has taken three years ; it was begun, or accepted, upon 
the line of restorinc: the national authority over the whole na- 
tional domain — and for the American people, as far as my know- 
ledge enables me to speak, I say, we are goinj]: through on this 
line if it takes three years more. [Cheers.] My friends. I did not 
know but that I might be called upon to say a few words before 
I got away from here, but I did not know it was coming just 
here. [Laughter.] I liavc never been in the habit of making 
predictions in regard to the war, but I am almost tempted to 
make one. If I were to hazard it, it is this : That (Jrant is this 
evening, with Gen. Moade and Gen. Hancock, of Pennsylvania, 
and the brave officers and soldiers with him, irf a position from 



186 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLIT. 

whence he will never be dislodged until Richmond is taken, 
[lond cheering], and I have but one single proposition to put 
now, and perhaps I can best put it in the form of an interroga- 
tory. If I shall discover that Gen. Grant, and the noble officers 
and men under him, can be greatly facilitated in their work by a 
sudden pouring forward of men and assistance, will you give 
them to me ? [Cries of ' Yes ! '] Then, I say, stand ready, 
for 1 am waiting for the chance. [Laughter and cheers.] I 
thank you, gentlemen." 

The hint given by the President in his speech, was un- 
derstood w^hen a call was made the following month for 
500,000 more men. 

WASHINGTON THREATENED. 

Towards the middle of July, 1864, rebel raiders, under 
command of the traitor Breckinridge, audaciously threat- 
ened Washington. They approached as near the capital 
as Tenallytown, burned the residence of Postmaster Blair, 
at Silver Springs, destroyed passenger trains on the rail- 
road between Baltimore and the Susquehanna, and burnt 
a large part of Chambersburg. President Lincoln re- 
mained placidly in Washington during this exciting period. 

"TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN." 

While these stirring events were in progress near the 
national capital, representations were made to President 
Lincoln that certain parties, who professed to represent 
the rebel government, were at the Clifton House, at 
Niagara Falls, and anxious to enter into negotiations with 
a view to the restoration of peace. Clement C. Clay, 
Beverly Tucker, and George N. Sanders were the active 
agents of the South in this business, and they succeeded 
in persuading Mr. Horace Greeley that much good would 
come of a conference. The project was doubtless a trick 
to induce Mr. Lincoln to recognize the Southern Con- 
federacy, and to trap him into a betrayal of his plans. 
But the following manifesto issued by him overturned all 
those hopes . 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 187 

"Executive Masion, WASiiixaTON, July 18, 1864. — Tov}hom 
it mai/ concern : Any proposition which embraces the restora- 
tion of peace, the integrity of the Union, and the abandonment 
of shivery, and which comes by and with authority that can 
control tlie armies now at war against the United States, will 
be received and considered by the Executive Government of 
the United States, and will be met by liberal terms on other 
substantial and collateral points, and the bearers thereof shall 
have safe conduct both ways. Abraham Lincoln." 

Mr. Clay and Mr. Holcombe, who were among 
the chief plenipotentiaries of Jefferson Davis, took bigli 
offence at the tone and language of this paper, and they 
responded to it in a tone of ill temper that evinced their 
bitter disappointment at the failure of the trap set for the 
feet of Mr. Lincoln. Their complaints had no other effect 
than to make their authors ridiculous in the sight of the 
world. 

THE FALL OP ATLANTA. 

Tn the month of September, 1864, intelligence arrived of 
the fall of Atlanta, and the Trcsident appointed a day of 
Thanksgiving, for the success of an event that none who 
were not in the secrets of the administration could have 
imagined the imi)ortance of at that time. 

MR. LINCOLN IS RE-ELECTED. 

The Presidential election took place upon the eighth of 
November, 1S64, and it resulted in tbe triumph of Mr. Lin- 
coln in every loyal State except Kentucky, New Jersey and 
Delaware. In some of the States, their soldiers in the 
field were allowed to vote, and the military vote was 
almost invariably cast for Lincoln and Johnson. The 
official returns for the entire vote polled summed up 
4,034,789. Of these Mr. Lincoln received 2,223,035, 
and McClellan received 1,811,754, leaving a majority of 
411,281 on the popular vote. 3Ir. Lincoln was elected 
by a plurality in 18G0. In 18G4 his majority was decided 
and unmistakable. 

This result was considered a full endorsement of the 



188 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

policy of Mr. Lincoln, and the war was more vigorously 
prosecuted from this time, many of its opponents being 
at least silenced, if they were not convinced. 

ME. LINCOLN MAKES A SPEECH UPON HIS 
ELECTION. 

At a late hour on the night of the election, the Presi- 
dent was serenaded by a club of Pennsylvanians, who 
notified him of the fact of his being the choice of the 
people for a second term. He responded as follows : 

"Friends and Fellow-Citizens: Even before I had been in- 
formed by you that this compliment was paid me by loyal 
citizens of Pennsylvania friendly to me, I had inferred that you 
were of that portion of my countrymen who think that the 
best interests of the nation are to be subserved by the support 
of the present administration. I do not pretend to say that 
you, who think so, embrace all the patriotism and loyalty of 
the country ; but I do believe, and I trust without personal in- 
terest, that the welfare of the country does require that such 
support and endorsement be given. I earnestly believe that 
the consequences of this day's work, if it be as you assume, 
and as now seems probable, will be to the lasting advantage if 
not to the very salvation of the country. I cannot, at this 
hour, say what has been the result of the election, but what- 
ever it may be, I have no desire to modi/y this opinion : that 
all who have labored to-day in behalf of the Union organization, 
have wrought for the best interest of their country and the 
world, not only for the present but for all future ages. / am 
thankful to God for this approval of the people; but tvhile 
deeply grateful for this niarlc of their confidence in me, if I 
knoio my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of per- 
sonal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one op- 
posed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one, 
but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the 
people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights 
of humanity 

LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE OP MR. LINCOLN. 

On the sixth of December, 1864, Mr, Lincoln sent into 
Congress his last annual Message. After dwelling at 
length upon our foreign relations, the state of the country, 
and the results of the election, which had at once demon- 
strated the strength of the people and their devotion to 
the cause of the Union, he said : 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 189 

" The public purpose to establish and maintain the national 
authority, is unchanged, and, as we believe, unchangeable. 
The manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. On 
careful consideration of all the evidence accessible, it seems to 
me that no attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader 
could result in any good. lie would accept nothing short of 
severance of the Union — precisely what we will not and cannot 
give. His declarations to this effect are explicit and oft- 
repeated. He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords us 
no excuse to deceive ourselves. He cannot voluntarily re- 
accept the Union. We cannot voluntarily yield it. Between 
him and us the issue is distinct, single and inflexible. It is an 
issue which can only be tried by war, and decided by victory. 
If we yield we are beaten. If the Southern people fail him, he 
is beaten. Either way, it would be the victory and defeat fol- 
lowing war. What is true, however, of him who heads the 
insurgent cause, is not necessarily true of those who follow. 
Although he cannot re-accept the Union, they can. * * * * 
In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the 
National authority, on the part of the insurgents, as the only 
indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the 
government, I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I 
repeat the declaration made a year ago, that while I remain in 
my present positi,on I shall not attempt to retract or modify 
the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery 
any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation or 
by any of the acts of Congress. If the people should, by 
whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re- 
enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instru- 
ment to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace, I 
mean simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the 
government whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those 
who began it." 

MORE TROOPS WANTED. 
Oa the 19th of December, 1864, a call was made for 
300,000 more men to finish up the great work on hand in 
the field, 

MR. LINCOLN HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH 
REBEL COMMISSIONERS. 

In the early part of February, 1865, application was 
made to the National Government for permission for 
Messrs. A. H. Stephens of Georgia, R. M. T. Hunter of 
Virginia, and J. A. Campbell of Alabama, to pass through 
the Union lines as qvaf^i commissioners from the rebel 



190 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLX. 

government to treat for peace. Permission was granted, 
with the understanding that the parties named were not 
to be allowed to laud. This determination upon the part 
of the Federal authorities caused much annoyance to the 
rebel agents, as they made no secret of their desire to 
visit Washington. Mr. Seward met the distinguished 
rebels named above, at Fortress Monroe. The Secretaiy 
of State telegraphed for the President, and Mr. Lincoln 
at once repaired to that point, where an interview was 
bad on board the steamer River Queen. 

The conference lasted four hours, and was perfectly 
friendly and good-tempered throughout. Not a word was 
said on either side indicating any but amicable sentiments. 
On our side the conversation was mainly conducted by the 
President ; on theirs by Mr. Hunter, Mr. Stephens occa- 
sionally taking part. The rebel commissioners said 
nothing whatever of their personal views or wishes, but ♦. 
spoke solely and exclusively for their government, and, at 
the outset and throughout the conference, declared their 
entire lack of authority to make, receive, or consider any 
proposition whatever looking toward a close of the war, 
except on the basis of a recognition of the independence 
of the Confederate States as a preliminary condition. The 
President presented the subject to them in every conceiva- 
ble form, suggesting the most liberal and considerate mod- 
ification of whatever, in the existing legislation and action 
of the United States Government, might be regarded as 
specially hostile to the rights and interests, or wounding 
to the pride of the Southern people — but in no single par- 
ticular could he induce them to swerve for a moment from 
their demand for recognition. They did not present this 
conspicuously as resting on their own convictions or 
wishes, but as the condition which their government had 
made absolutely indispensable to any negotiations or dis- 
cussions whatever concerning peace. 



LIFE AXD SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 191 

President Lincoln, on the other hand, informed them, 
at every point, that such recognition was utterly and 
totally out of the question ; that the United States could 
stop the war and arrest, even temporarily, the movement 
of its armies, only on the condition precedent, that the 
authority of the National Government should be recog- 
nized and obeyed over the whole territory of the United 
States. This point conceded, he assured them that upon 
every other matter of difference they would be treated 
with the utmost liberality ; but without that recognition 
the war must and would go on. 

All the conversation which took place between the re- 
spective parties came back to, and turned upon, this radical 
and irreconcilable difference. Neither side could be 
swerved a hair's breadth from its position. And, there- 
fore, the attempt at negotiation was an utter failure. 
Upon separating, it was distinctly understood and explic- 
itly stated that the attitude and action of each Govern- 
ment was to be precisely what it would have been if this 
interview had never taken place. So this negotiation 
went for nought, and President Lincoln and Mr. Seward 
returned to Washington ; while the discomfited rebel 
commissioners made the best of their way back to Rich- 
mond. 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN GOES TO "THE FRONT." 

On the 24th of March, 1865, Mr. Lincoln went to "the 
front," just as the lines of General Grant were being drawn 
tighter and tighter around Richmond. He witnessed a 
part of the assault upon Petersburg, and was at City Point 
when Richmond fell into the possession of the Federal 
forces on the 2d of April, 1865. He pushed on to the rebel 
capital, held a levee in the mansion of the fugitive Jeffer- 
son Davis, and left the same evening for City Point, re- 
turning to Washington soon after 



192 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABP.AIIAM LINCOLN. 



GENERAL LEE SURRENDERS. 

The fall of Richmond was followed speedily by the sur- 
render of Lee. The terms of capitulation determined upon 
are embraced in the following note from General Grant to 
General Lee : 

"Appomattox Court House, April 9th. — General Robert E. 
Lee, Army C. S. — In accordance with the substance of my 
letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender 
of the army of Northern Virjjiuia on the following terms, to 
wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, 
one copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other 
to be retained by such officer or officers as j'ou luay designate, 
the officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms 
against the Government of tlie United States until properly 
exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to 
sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arras, 
artillery, and pubhc property to be parked and stacked, and 
turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. 
This will not embrace the side arms of the officers, nor their 
private horses or baggage. Tliis done, each officer and man 
will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by 
United States authority so long as they observe their parole 
and the laws in force were they may reside. 

" Very Eeapectfully, " U. S. Grant, 

" Lieutenant-General." 

These easy terms were accepted, and it is known that 
President Lincoln, in dictating them, was actuated by a 
kindly spirit of conciliation. 

THE PRESIDENT RETURNS TO WASHINGTON. 

On the 11th of April, 1865, there was high rejoicing at 
the National Capital. The public buildings were illuminated 
at night, in honor of the great victories of the Union 
arms, and the people were happy at the prospect of a 
speedy peace. President Lincoln was serenaded at the 
White House. The President made a responsive speech, 
in substance as follows: 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 193 



MR. LINCOLN'S LAST SPEECH. 

" We meet this evonin<T not in sorrow, but in gladness of 
heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the 
surrender of the principal insurgent army, give liopes of a 
righteous and speedy peace, whose joyous expression cannot be 
restrained. In the midst of this, however, He from whom all 
blessings flow must not be forgotten. A call for a national 
thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. 
Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoic- 
ing be overlooked. Their honors must not be parceled out with 
others. I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure 
of transmitting much of the good news to yon. But no part of 
the honor or execution is mine. To General Grant, his skillful 
officers and brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood 
ready, but was not in roach to take active part. By these re- 
cent successes the re-inauguration of the national authority — 
reconstruction, which has had a large share of thought from 
the first — is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It 
js fraught with great difficulty. Unlike a war between indepen- 
dent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with. 
No one man has authority to give up the"rebellion for any other 
raian. AVe must simply begin with and mould from disorganized 
and discordant elements. 

*** ***** 

" In the annual message of December, 1863. and the accom- 
panying proclamation, I presented a plan of reconstruction, as 
the phrase goes, which I promised, if adopted by any State, 
would be acceptable to and sustained by the Executive Govern- 
ment of the nation. I distinctly stated that this was not the 
only'plan which might, possibly, be acceptable ; and I also dis- 
tinctly protested that the Executive claimed no right to say 
when or whether members should be admitted to seats in Con- 
gress from such States. This plan was in advance submitted 
to the then cabinet, and approved by every member of it. One 
of them suggested that I should then and in that connection 
apply the Emancipation Proclamation to the theretofore ex- 
cepted parts of Virginia and Louisiana, that I should drop the 
suggestion about apprenticeship for freed people, and that I 
should omit the protest against my own power in regard to the 
admission of members of Congress. But even he approved 
every part and parcel of the plan which has since been employed 
or touched by the action of Louisiana. The new constitution 
of Louisiana, declaring emancipation for the whole State, prac- 
tically applies the proclamation to the part previously excepted. 
It does not adopt apprenticeship for freed people, and is silent, 
as it could not well be otherwise, about the admiss on of mem- 
bers to Congress. So that, as it applied to Louisiana, every 
12 



194 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

member of the Cabinet fully approved the plan. The message 
went to Congress, and I received many commendations of the 
plan, written and verbal, and not a single objection to it, from 
any professed emancipationist, came to my knowledge until 
after the news reached Washington that the people of Louis- 
iana had begun to move in accordance with it. From about 
July, 1862, 1 had corresponded with diiferent persons supposed 
to be interested in seeking a reconstriiction of a State Govern- 
ment for Louisiana. When the message of 1863, witli the plan 
before mentioned, reached New Orleans, General Banks wrote 
me that he was confident that the people, with his military co- 
operation, would reconstruct substantially on that plan. I 
wrote to him and some of them to try it. They tried it, and 
the result is known. Such has been my only agency in getting 
up the Louisiana government. As to sustaining it, my promise 
is out, as before stated. But as bad promises are better broken 
than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise and break it when- 
ever I shall be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the public 

interest; but I have not yet been so convinced. 

******** 

" We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of 
their proper practical relation with the Union, and that the 
sole object of the government, civil and military, in regard to 
those States, is to again get them into their proper practical 
relation. I believe that it is not only possible, but, in fact, 
easier, to do this without deciding, or even considering, whether 
those States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. 
Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly imma- 
terial whether they had been abroad. Let us all join in doing 
the acts necessary to restore the proper practical relations 
between those States and the nation, and each forever after 
innocently indulge his own opinion whether in doing the acts 
he brought the States from without into the Union, or only 
gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it. 
The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which the Louisi- 
ana Government rests, would be more satisfactory to all if it 
contained 50,000. or 30,000, or even 20,000. instead of 12,000. as 
it does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective 
franchise is not given to the colored man. 1 would myself 
prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and 
on those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still the question is 
not whether the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite all 
that is desirable. The question is, will it be wiser to take it as 
it is, and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse? Can 
Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation witli the 
Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State 
govermnent? Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore 
slave State of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, 
assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 196 

elections, organized a State government, adopted a Free State 
constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to 
black and white, and empowering the legislature to confer the 
elective franchise upon the r.olored man. This Legislature has 
already voted to ratify the constitutional amendment recently 
passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout the nation. 
These twelve thousand persons are thus fully committed to the 
Union and to perpetuate freedom in the State ; committed to 
the very things, and nearly all things, the nation wants, and 
they ask the nation's recognition and its assistance to make 
good this committal. Now if we reject and spurn them, we do 
our utmost to disorganize and disperse them. "We in fact say 
to the white man, you are worthless or worse ; we will neither 
help you nor be helped by you. To the blacks we say : This 
cup of hberty which these, your old masters, held to your lips, 
we will dash from you, and leave you to the chances of gather- 
ing the spilled and scattered contents in some vague and unde- 
fined when, where, and how. If this course, discouraging and 
paralyzing both white and black, has any tendency to laring 
Louisiana into proper practical relations with the Union, I have 
so far been unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we 
recognize and sustain the new government of Louisiana, the 
converse of all this is made true. We encourage the hearts 
and nerve the arms of 12,000 to adhere to their work, and argue 
for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it. and grow 
it, and ripen it to a complete success. The colored man, too, 
in seeing all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and 
energy, and daring to the same end. Grant that he desiris the 
elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the 
already advanced steps toward it, than by running backward 
over them ? Concede that the new government of Louisiana 
is to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner 
have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. 

[Laughter.] 

* * * * * * * * 

"Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation 
with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new 
State government? What has been said of Louisiana will 
apply to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain 
to each State, and such important and sudden changes occur 
in the same State, and withal so new and unprecedented is the 
whole case, that no exclusive and inflexible plan can safely be 
< prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such exclusive and 
mflexible plan would surely become a new entanglement. Im- 
portant principles may and mxist be inflexible. In the present 
situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some 
new announcement to the people of the South. I am consider- 
ing, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will be 
proper." 



196 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



PKESIDENT LINCOLN ASSASSINATED. 

The Fourteenth of April, 1865, will ever be a 
memorable day in the annals of America. It was the 
anniversary of the evacuation of Fort Sumter, in Charles- 
ton harbor, by Major (now Genei-al) Anderson, four years 
before, and upon that day the old flag was formally re- 
stored. The masterly combinations of General Grant had 
circumscribed the territory of rebellion to very contracted 
limits. Sherman's wonderful march through Georgia, 
from Atlanta to the sea- board, and then north through 
South Carolina, had given us possession of the most im- 
portant points inland ; while Savannah, Charleston, Col- 
umbia, Wilmington, Petersburg and, finally, Richmond 
itself, were added to the acquisitions resulting from the 
splendid generalship of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. Lee 
had surrendered. Jefferson Davis and his bogus government 
w<ere fugitives, and even Mobile had succumbed to the 
national authority, although intelligence of the fact bad 
not yet reached the seat of government. There were 
rejoicings every where in the loyal North. The Federal 
authorities had put a sudden stop to the draft and to re- 
cruiting, and the war was considered virtually at an end ; 
only the dying embers of rebellion remaining to be 
trampled out by the victorious generals of the republic. 
President Lincoln had returned home to Washington from 
bis visit to the subjugated capital of rebellion, and he had 
dated a dispatch from the residence of the fugitive arch- 
traitor Davis. All was joy and happiness, which was 
demonstrated by illuminations, displays of flaigs, addresses, 
etc. But a terrible blow was in store for the nation, and 
it came like a thunder-clap from a clear sky upon the ears 
of the astounded people. 

The President and General Grant had been invited to 
attend Ford's theatre, in Washington, on the evening of 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 197 

the fourteenth, and both had accepted the invitation. 
General Grant was called off North, and left Washington 
during the evening. The President good-naturedly 
attended the theatre lest the audience might be entirely 
disappointed, in consequence of General Gi'ant's absence, 
and Mrs. Lincoln accompanied her illustrious husband. 
About ten o'clock in the evening, while the play, " Our 
American Cousin," was progressing, a stranger worked 
his way into the i)roscenium box occupied by the presi- 
dential party, and leveling a pistol close behind the head 
of Mr. Lincoln, he fired, and the ball was lodged deep in 
the brain of the President. The assassin then drew a 
dirk, and cutting right and left with it, he sprang from the 
box, flourishing the weapon aloft, and shouted as he 
reached the stage the motto upon the escutcheon of the 
State of Virginia, " Hie Semper Tyrannis!" The miscreant 
dashed across the stage, and before the audience or the 
actors could recover from their amazement and bewilder- 
ment, or realize the real position of affairs, the murderer 
had mounted a fleet horse in waiting in an alley in the 
rear of the theatre, and galloping oil", he escaped for a time^ 

The excitement growing out of the tragic event may 
be imagined. In the midst of the uproar and confusion, 
the wounded President was borne to a dwelling in the 
vicinity, where he lingered in an unconscious condition 
until twenty-two minutes past seven o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 15th, when he died. Vice-President Andrew 
Johnson, of Tennessee, became President of the United 
States upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, by the provisions 
of the Constitution. 

At about the same time that the fatal bullet was sped 
at the life of the foremost man of the nation, an attempt 
was made to murder Mr. William 11. Seward, Secretary 
of State, and his son Frederick, the Assistant Secretary 
of State. The Secretary had been seriously hurt by 



198 LIFE AND SERVICP:S of ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

leaping from bis carriage while being ran away with by 
his frightened horses, and he was lying in a precarious 
condition at his home, when a ruffian, who had obtained 
access to the house by fraud, burst into the sick chamber, 
stabbing the Secretary in the throat, and inflicting severe 
wounds upon his son Frederick and others of his attend- 
ants. The assassin escaped at the time, riding oif upon 
a horse, like the murderer of the President, but he was 
subsequently secured. 

The murderer of Mr. Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth, 
an actor, and a native of Harford County, Maryland. 
During the continuance of the rebellion he was an ardent 
Secessionist, and he made no concealment of his warm 
sympathy with armed treason. He had frequently threat- 
ened to assassinate the President, and this threat was 
executed in the tragic and dramatic manner described. 
He was of course acting in collusion with the assassin 
who attempted the lives of the Seward family. 

WHAT BECAME OF BOOTH. 

The assassin made his way on horseback into St. Mary's 
county, where he lay concealed for some days, eluding his 
pursuers, although the rewards for his capture amounted 
in the aggregate to over one hundred thousand dollars. 
It was, however, pretty conclusively ascertained that he 
was in this locality, and parties of cavalry finally closed 
in around him, so as to compel him to beat a retreat. He 
worked his way across the Potomac and Rappahainnock 
rivers into Virginia, and on the morning of the 26th of 
April, 1865, a party of Colonel Baker's cavalry, under 
command of Lieutenant Dougherty, traced him to a barn 
on the farm of Henry Garrett, between Bowling Green 
and Port Royal, and near Fredericksburg, where, with an 
accomplice named David C. Harrold, he was concealed. 

The cavalry surrounded the barn, and called upon the 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. 199 

fugitives to surrender. Upon their refusing to do so, the 
barn was set on fire, in the rear, and Harrold, coming out, 
gave himself up as a prisoner. Booth refused to surrender, 
and after theatrically challenging the lieutenant and the 
entire party of cavalrymen to combat, he prepared to fire 
among them. Sergeant Boston Corbett immediately 
leveled his piece and fired, shooting the wretched asssassin 
in the head, and causing much such a wound as Booth 
had inflicted upon the President less than two weeks 
before. Booth lived for two or three hours after receiving 
bis wound. The body of the murderer, with the person 
of Harrold, was at once removed to Washington. 

THE FOURTEENTH OP APRIL, 1865. 

As everything pertaining to tlie last hours of the late 
President must be interesting to the public, the following 
incidents of the last day of his life will not be deficient in 
interest. 

His son, Capt. Robert Lincoln, breakfasted with him 
on Friday morning, having just returned from the capitu- 
lation of Lee, and the President passed a happy hour 
listening to all the details. "While at breakfast he heard 
that Speaker Colfax was in the house, and sent word that 
he wished to see him immediately in the reception-room. 
He conversed with him nearly an hour about his future 
policy as to the rebellion, which he was about to submit to 
the Cabinet. Afterwards he had an interview with 
Mr. Hale, Minister to Spain, and several Senators and 
Representatives. At eleven o'clock, the Cabinet and 
Gen. Grant met with him, and in one of the most satis- 
factory and important Cabinet meetings held since his 
first inauguration, the future policy of the administration 
was harmoniously and unanimously agreed on. When it 
adjourned. Secretary Stanton said he felt that the govern- 
ment was stronger than at any previous period since the 
rebellion commenced. In the afternoon the President had 



200 LIFE AND SERVICES OF AJJEAHAM LINCOLN. 

a loug and pleasant interview with Gen. Oglesby, Senator 
Yates, and other leading citizens of his State. 

In the evening, Mr. Colfax called again, at his request, 
and Mr. Ashraun, of Massachusetts, v^dio presided over 
the Chicago Convention of 1860, was present. To them 
he spoke of his visit to Richmond; and when they stated 
that there was much uneasiness at the North while he 
was at the rebel capital, for fear that some traitor might 
shoot him, he replied, jocularl}', that he would have been 
alarmed himself if any other person had been President 
and gone there, but that he did not feel any danger what- 
ever. Conversing on a matter of business with Mr. 
Ashmun, he made a remark that he saw Mr. Ashniun 
was surprised at, and immediately, with his well-known 
kindness of heart, said — "You did not understand me, 
Ashmun, I did not mean what 3'ou inferred, and I will 
take it all back and apologize for it." He afterward gave 
Mr. Ashmun a card to admit himself and friend early the 
next morning, to converse further about it. Turning to 
Mr. Colfax, he said — " You are going with Mrs. Lincoln 
and me to the theatre, I hope '/" But Mr. Colfax had 
other engagements, expecting to leave the city the next 
morning. He then said to Mr. Colfax — " Mr. Sumner 
has the gavel of the Confederate Congress, which he got 
at Richmond to hand to the Secretary of War. But I 
insisted then that he must give it to you ; and you tell 
him for me to hand it over." Mr. Ashmun alluded to the 
gavel which he still had, and which be had used at the 
Chicago Convention ; and the President and Mrs. Lincoln, 
who was also in the parlor, rose to go to the theatre. It 
was half an hour after the time they had intended to 
start, and they spoke about waiting half an hour longer, 
for the President went with reluctance. At the door he 
stopped, and said — " Colfax, do not forget to tell the 
people in the mining regions, as you pass through them, 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 201 

■what I told you this morning, about the development 
when peace comes, and I will telegraph you at San 
Francisco." He shook hands with both gentlemen, with 
a pleasant good-bye, and left the Executive mansion 
never to return to it alive. 

THE EFFECT OF MR. LINCOLN'S DEATH. 

Kever, since the demise of Washington, was there so 
profound a sensation as that caused by the murder of 
President Lincoln. The telegraph conveyed the sad 
tidings to the remotest part of the continent, and before 
noon of the fifteenth, the nation was in tears from the 
Potomac to the Aroostook, and from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. By common consent all business was suspended, 
and while the men hants of Philadelphia, New York and 
Boston, were closing their stores and draping their dwell- 
ings in the habiliments of mourning, the people of San 
Francisco were discussing the sad tidings and doing 
funeral honors to the Martyr-President. The people and 
authorities of the British Provinces of Canada, also 
signified their deep regret at the tragic event that had 
thrown the loyal States in tears ; while, in the rebel 
States, the act of the assassin was spoken of by many 
with horror and detestation. 

The funeral of Mr. Lincoln took place at Washington, 
on Wednesday, the 19th of April, 1865. It was attended 
by the highest civil and military dignitaries, and by the 
representatives of foreign governments. The remains 
were placed in the notunda of the capitol, where they lay 
in state until the 21st, when they were started upon their 
mournful journey to Springfield, Illinois. They were 
taken to the western home of the deceased President by 
the route he pursued while on his way from the West to 
Washington. Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Xew 
York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis 
and Chicago were visited, in the order named, and at each 



202 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ABRAHAM LINCOL^^ 

place there were extraordinary demonstrations of respect 
and sorrow, reaching Springfield on May 3d, where the 
remains laid in state in the hall of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, until May 4th, when the final funeral took place. 
At each place there were magnificent obsequies, the 
body lay in state, and scores of thousands of citizens 
crowded to see the remains of their beloved Chief Mag- 
istrate, upon whom treason had done its worst. 

A SUMMARY. 
We have now traced the life of Abraham Lincoln from 
the time he first saw the light in the humble cabin of his 
father in the wilds of Kentucky, in 1809, down to the 
hour that he gasped his last breath in the dwelling in 
Washington city, to which he was conveyed after the 
assassin Booth had struck his murderous blow. We 
have seen how the flat-boatman and the rail-splitter of the 
West, climbed step by step until he reached the highest 
round of political preferment, as well as the loftiest place 
in the affections of his countrymen. We have seen how 
honesty of purpose won its way while beset by the wiles 
of political chicanery and deceit. We have seen how 
sterling principle lived down fierce opposition until the 
false and the wrong were forced to yield to the true and 
the just. We have seen a grand illustration of the prac- 
tical democratic republicanism of our American system, 
in elevating a man from the humblest ranks of the people 
to the loftiest place on earth. And, finally, we have seen 
how the malignant hate of foiled traitors sped the Par- 
thian arrow to the murdering of the most illustrious 
citizen of the republic. 

" An eagle, tow'rina: in his pride of place. 
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed." 

But the principles ennunciated and struggled for by 
Abraham Lincoln are as imperishable as truth itself, and 



LlFti AND SKRVtCKS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 

having performed his f^reat mission upon earth, he has 
gone to meet his reward in another sphere, leaving to his 
fellow citizens, and to posterity, the enjoyment of the 
great reforms, of which he was the instrument in the 
hands of Providence, and to American youth the influencce 
of his grand example. 



THE END. 



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